TY - JOUR T1 - Environmental issues in Finnish school textbooks on religious education and ethics T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Aarnio-Linnanvuori, Essi PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 131 EP - 157 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - environmental education KW - integration KW - textbooks KW - religious education KW - secular ethics education KW - environmental science AB - Solving global environmental problems requires a major change of values. As relates to environmental education, worldview, ethics and spiritual issues are important elements. But how are environmental issues included in such school subjects that especially discuss values and ethics? In this article I examine 24 Finnish religious education and ethics textbooks to analyze, to what extent environmental issues are integrated and discussed in them. I conclude that there is confusion about what environmental education can be in societal school subjects. The environmental texts in textbooks do not always draw on the specific content of the societal subject in question but repeat content from the natural sciences. Therefore, I suggest contexts and perspectives for discussing environmental issues that would comport with these subjects and supplement existing environmental education at school. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Barn och fred. En pilotstudie om förskolebarns förståelse av fred T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ahlskog-Björkman, Eva A1 - Björkgren, Mårten PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 65 EP - 87 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - förståelse av fred KW - lärande för fred KW - ämnesövergripande KW - bildkonstens didaktik KW - religionsdidaktik KW - förskoleklass KW - kultur av fred KW - agenda 2030 KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Enligt FN:s mål om hållbar utveckling (Agenda 2030) betonas bland annat främjandet av en kultur av fred och icke-våld. Utvecklingen i finländska styrdokument för förskolan visar däremot att temat fred har nedtonats. Denna studie vill genom ämnesdidaktisk samverkan mellan bildkonst och religion synliggöra 6-åringars förståelse av fred, deras sätt att samtala om och i teckningar gestalta ett liv i fred med varandra. Den kvalitativa temaanalysen visade att barn i denna pilotstudie förstår fred som tillstånd, fred som relationer, fred som förhandlingar och fred som möte och handling. Samtal kring barnens teckningar och de visuella konkretiseringarna stöder tolkningen. Pilotstudien har genom pedagogiska och ämnesdidaktiska perspektiv på lärande för fred uppmärksammat vikten av att barns lärandeprocesser om fred, icke-våld och globalt medborgaskap behöver beakta kravet på tid, rum, språk och struktur för interaktion, tolkning, fördjupning och handling. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kan ett inbördeskrig försonas i ett historieklassrum? Teori och praktik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ahonen, Sirkka PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 19 EP - 33 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - post-conflict history education KW - dialogical pedagogy KW - deliberative communication AB - Pursuing Post-Conflict Reconciliation in a History Classroom. Theoretical and Practical ConsiderationsIn a post-conflict society, history education may prolong the conflict on a symbolical level by fostering biased narratives of guilt and victimhood. To avoid this it is necessary to open and maintain a reconciling dialogue in history classrooms. The theory of deliberative communication, launched by Jürgen Habermas, has been applied to pedagogy by Tomas Englund. Deliberative pedagogical discourse implies an equal distribution of power in classroom interaction. Predetermined standpoints are avoided and majority decisions not pursued. Participants are expected to listen to each other instead of rushing to express their individual opinion. Deliberative discussion is founded on the ethos of social inclusion. Three concrete cases illustrate the chances of dialogical history education in post-conflict societies: Finland after the civil war of 1918, South Africa after the end of apartheid, and Bosnia-Hercegovina after the war of 1992–1995. South Africa provides the only example of a prompt post-conflict introduction of dialogical history education. The Afrikaner narrative of heroism and victimhood was after 1994 reserved a place in the new post-colonial history curriculum at the side of the narratives of apartheid and the Black resistance. The viability of dialogical history education has been monitored by attitude surveys. South African surveys reveal that dialogue does not inevitably rule out an identification with the traditional identity narratives. In Bosnia-Herzegovina only little has been achieved in introducing a dialogue in history education but there are signs of students, parents and teachers aspiring to inclusive lessons. The reconciliatory potential imbedded in the multiperspectival nature of the historical knowledge is available in history education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Post-Conflict History Education in Finland, South Africa and Bosnia-Herzegovina T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ahonen, Sirkka PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 90 EP - 103 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - post-conflict society KW - post-conflict reconciliation AB - A post-conflict society tends to get locked in a history war. As the practice of history in its broad sense is a moral craft, representations of guilt and victimhood prevail in social memory. The representations are often bolstered by mythical references, wherefore deconstruction of myths is expected from history education for the purposes of post-conflict reconciliation. This article deals with the post-conflict uses of history in Finland, South Africa and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The three cases constitute examples of a class war, a race conflict and an ethno-religious armed clash. The memory politics and history curricula differ between the cases. Their comparison indicates, how far an imposition of one ´truth´, a dialogue of two ´truths´ and segregation of different memory communities are feasible strategies of post-conflict history education. The article suggests that history lessons can be an asset instead of a liability in the pursuit of reconciliation. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Eleven och den andre: Statliga attityder till religion och livsåskådning i riktlinjer om sammankomster med religiösa inslag i skolan 2012 och 1967 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Aldrin, Viktor PY - 2020 VL - 1 IS - 2020 SP - 137 EP - 153 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - policy KW - attitudes KW - education KW - religion KW - pluralism KW - swedish school agencies KW - teacher education and education work KW - lärarutbildning och pedagogisk yrkesverksamhet KW - religious studies and theology AB - This study aims at investigating and comparing state attitudes towards confession in policies regarding meetings with religious elements at schools. Two state policies have been examined through a text analysis inspired by Critical Hermeneutics – the 2012 guidelines, currently in use, and a historic guideline from 1967. Results show that two different stands are emerging regarding confessional elements. In the 1967 policy, pupils are encouraged to meet and tolerate different religious perspectives including non-religious attitudes in order to develop a democratic consciousness. Half a century later, the 2012 policy consider confession as problematic and something from which pupils ought to be protected. The study ends with a discussion of how recent regulations align with the ambition of training pupils in the encounter with religious others in the multicultural society Sweden and Europe presently are part of. Perhaps, something could be learned from previous state regulations – that encountering otherness does not necessary lead students to question their own beliefs, rather it may expand their horizon of cultural competence. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hur förmedlas kristendomen i läromedelstexter för gymnasieskolan?: En ideologikritisk analys T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Aldrin, Viktor A1 - Aldrin, Emilia PY - 2018 IS - 2 SP - 23 EP - 44 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - textbook analysis KW - critical text analysis KW - ideological criticism KW - religious education KW - christianity KW - teacher education and education work KW - lärarutbildning och pedagogisk yrkesverksamhet KW - religious studies and theology AB - This study aims at investigating how the image of the religion of Christianity is constructed in Swedish textbooks for the Upper Secondary School (gymnasieskolan), with a specific focus on the perspective from which the text considers the religion and how this perspective creates possibilities for and limitations of pupils’ identification. Introductions of Christianity through text and images were selected from six current textbooks; five printed and one digital. The method used for analysis was ideological text criticism with a combination of Linguistic and Theological perspectives. Three aspects were highlighted in the analysis: interest making strategies, demands of previous knowledge, and subject perspectives. The study showed that the examined texts did not express Christianity as the cultural norm as considered in previous research. Instead there seemed to be an ambivalence in the perspective from which the textbooks considered the religion. Demands of previous knowledge as well as subject positions varied highly both within and between textbooks. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Dansk historieundervisning i relation till svensk: Kommentarer till Eskelund Knudsen & Haue ”Historieundervisning i Danmark –epokale tendenser, kontinuitet og forandring i lærebøger og læremidler” T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Alvén, Fredrik A1 - Ammert, Niklas PY - 2023 VL - 1 SP - 28 EP - 34 LA - swe PB - : Centrum för de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik (CSD), Karlstads universitet KW - historieundervisning AB - De epokala tendenserna i dansk historieundervisning – deocentrism, antropocentrism och polycentrism – kan i viss mån sägas känneteckna också svensk historieunder-visning. En än mer träffande beskrivning av svensk historieundervisning skulle dock vara Gud och nytta, nationen samt demokrati och medborgarfostran. Svenska historie-läroböcker tycks mer kännetecknas av kontinuitet än av förändring (Gustafsson, 2017). ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Dansk historieundervisning i relation till svensk: Kommentarer till Eskelund Knudsen & Haue, ´Historieundervisning i Danmark: epokale tendenser, kontinuitet og forandring i lærebøger og læremidler´ T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Alvén, Fredrik A1 - Ammert, Niklas PY - 2023 IS - 1 SP - 28 EP - 34 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - history education KW - historia med didaktisk inriktning ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historiemedvetande och jämställdhetstankar hos svenska ungdomar T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Alvén, Fredrik PY - 2021 VL - 1 IS - 11 SP - 22 EP - 53 LA - swe PB - : Karlstad University Press AB - Because Swedish teenagers bring with them a cultural background that affects their perception of history, this, in turn, affects how they understand and receive the history taught in school. For some decades now, the students´ historical consciousness should be the starting point to their history education in compulsory school in Sweden, that is, their understanding of their own lives in a temporal perspective. Consequently, educators should be interested in how the students understand societal issues through time, as this influences how they will understand history. This study explores the students’ understanding of gender equality in a temporal perspective. As the method is quantitative, the results must therefore be interpreted with caution. Nonetheless, there are some interesting results that should be taken into account before teaching gender equality in history. The girls understand the theme as mostly a conflict in the past, while the boys worry about the future. Moreover, the girls more easily imagine perspectives where women are the victims, while the boys more easily understand perspectives where men are the victims. These results call for a nuanced history teaching to reach both boys and girls. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Var framtiden bättre förr?: temporal orientering i skolpolitiska dokument T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Alvén, Fredrik PY - 2019 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstad University Press KW - historical consciousness KW - temporal orientation KW - narration KW - formal curricula KW - civic education AB - This article presents a study of how the purpose of school in general and the civic education in particular has been told at the formal curricula. The used material are governmental documents about the compulsory school. The method used emanates from the concept of historical consciousness. It is however the concept´s narrative and temporal content that is the starting point, when David Carr´s theory of lived stories is used to understand temporal perceptions behind the formal curricula. Two time periods with different purposes for the school and the civic education, emanating from different temporal orientations, have been found, namely 1969-1980 and 1994-2011. During the first time period the temporal orientation was rather short in time, and the future vision clear. The purpose of school and civic education were told to prepare the citizens to cooperate in labour intensive workingplaces. Cooperation and willingness to defer to the collective, were the most important abilities. During the second time period the temporal orientation becomes more prolonged, a distant past was used to meet an uncertain future. The purpose of school and civic education were now told to foster a western moral cultural heritage together with a new creative entrepreneurial spirit. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rapport från XIII:e konferensen med Nationella nätverket för historiedidaktisk forskning, 8-10 maj 2019, Linnéuniversitetet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ammert, Niklas A1 - Kakoulidou, Kristina PY - 2019 VL - 2 SP - 209 EP - 211 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - historia med didaktisk inriktning KW - subject-specific education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Qualifying didactic reflection in religious education through a model for religious competence T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Andersen, Kirsten M. A1 - Sigurdsson, Lakshmi PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 76 EP - 94 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - teacher qualifications KW - religious competence action research AB - Religion is a vast phenomenon, consequently the core elements in formal religious education are equally difficult to limit. Even though a national curriculum narrows down the scope of content to a certain extent, it is apparent how RE incorporates a whole range of methods and approaches. This article departs from another perspective, namely the fact that school is not exclusively responsible for religious education and formation. It raises the question of whether and how formal teaching from the perspective of teachers in school and vicars in church contributes to the specific pedagogical task of competence and authoritativeness (Bildung). One of the results of an action research project: ‘Educating (Bildung) towards religious competence’ is a fourfold model for developing analytical approaches to RE didactics based on the concept of competence/authoritativeness. With this model it is possible to connect knowledge of RE with general pedagogical and didactic reflection in the context of both school and church.  In the article, we offer reflections on possible ways to strengthen the connection between RE research and teaching. The aim is to connect practical teaching experience with theoretical reflection, both knowledge of didactics and religious content knowledge. In recent times the ideal of formation for RE has understandably focused on competences for diversity and inter-religious understanding. The four-fold model for religious competence is our attempt to widen the scope and perspective of formation in schools.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Elevers perspektivbyten i svar på uppgifter från det nationella provet i samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Andersson, Klas A1 - Larsson, Kristoffer PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 66 EP - 84 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - critical thinking KW - alternate points of view. social studies KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - alternate points of view KW - social studies AB - Developing students' critical thinking is an important task for Swedish schools. Especially in the social studies subjects, where issues of democracy and human rights always are present. In both national and international educational science research there are however some uncertainties concerning how critical thinking manifests among students. The article sheds light on a specific component of critical thinking, namely the ability to alternate points of view. Initially, classical theoretical literature on critical thinking is used to discuss this component. The main part of the article uses students' own descriptions of societal challenges to show more precisely how alternating points of view are manifested in student answers. To our help, we have a unique empirical material in the form of data from the Swedish national test in civics for year 9. 600 student responses from one question are analyzed with the ambition of finding students' ability to see, and discuss, social issues from different points of view. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Datorbaserade animationer i geografiundervisningen. En studie om gymnasieelevers lärande i mötet med datorbaserade animationer om bergartscykeln. Recension av Eva Lundqvist T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Arrhenius, Mattias PY - 2013 VL - 2 SP - 165 EP - 167 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Why Physical Geography? An analysis of justifications in teacher magazines in Germany T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bagoly-Simó, Péter A1 - Uhlenwinkel, Anke PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 23 EP - 37 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - teacher magazines KW - academic knowledge KW - social aims KW - student interest KW - geography KW - geografi AB - School geography is often quite different from academic geography and there are good reasons for that, as school is preparing young people to be able to lead the life they value instead of just training them to learn specific subject contents. In some countries school geography is understood as being mainly a social science. Nonetheless physical geography often plays an important part in textbooks and in everyday teaching in these countries. This presentation will examine how physical geography topics are justified in specialist teacher magazines in Germany. Are they justified by simply pointing at the value of the academic knowledge itself? Are they justified by claiming students’ special interest in these topics? Or are they justified by showing the value of physical geography in promoting social aims such as sustainable development, freedom or equality? ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Parochial education in a global world? Teaching history and civics in Lebanon T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bahous, Rima A1 - Nabhani, Mona A1 - Rabo, Annika PY - 2013 VL - 1 IS - 3 SP - 57 EP - 79 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - lebanon KW - future citizen AB - This exploratory article is based on a research project which runs from 2011 to 2013 that examines how global processes are expressed in educational policies and pedagogical texts in Lebanon, Sweden and Turkey by focusing on school subjects like civics, history, geography, and religion. In this text we discuss the development of education in Lebanon, the development of history and civics after the civil war, and on opinions about these school subjects in order to make a preliminary analysis of how the future Lebanese citizen is depicted in policies, curricula, and textbooks. Lebanon is interesting because of its unique education system in which foreign international institutions rather than national ones have the task of preparing individuals for a globalized world. Material for the study were collected from a sample of curricula used in private and public or national schools for history and civics/citizenship education in grade 8 as well as interviews and conference proceedings and conversations with activists, teachers and principals. We also reviewed findings of relevant empirical studies conducted in Lebanon. Our data collection was guided by three questions: how is the right citizen depicted in the Lebanese material? How is the relationship between national and global perspectives treated in guidance documents and pedagogical texts? What civic rights and obligations are given attention and what individuals are included/ excluded? Our preliminary findings imply that there is no consensus on the importance of teaching a unified history and civics book and subjects in Lebanon. Other findings indicate that private and international schools have a greater impact than national schools on preparing Lebanese students as future citizens.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kollektive minner og universalisering. Holocaust i den nye norske læreplanen for grunnskolen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Banik, Vibeke A1 - Kjøstvedt, Anders PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 149 EP - 170 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - national curricula KW - holocaust KW - collective memory KW - universalisation. KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In the new national curricula for Norwegian basic education (Kunnskapsløftet, LK20), introduced in 2020, Holocaust is included as a historical subject for the very first time. This is in itself an interesting development, made even more significant by the fact that every other historical subject is removed from the national curricula. However, no explanation for this contradiction is given, nor does the curricula give any insight into how teachers and students should interpret it. In this article, we argue that the contradictory and somewhat poorly defined role given to the Holocaust in LK20, together with other perspectives introduced in the new curricula, is likely to lead to two major shortcomings. Firstly, the curricula’s insistence on dealing with the past only on an individual level may create blind spots for the students when they try to make sense of the Holocaust as a historical subject. What LK20 fails to acknowledge, in our opinion, is the important role played by collective memory in dealing with the past. These are significant when confronted with historical subjects related to the Second World War, as these collective memories are particularly strong in cultures with a history related to this conflict. Secondly, we argue that the contradictory introduction of the Holocaust in LK20 is likely to strengthen the universalisation of the Holocaust in Norwegian schools, i.e. using the genocide of the European Jews as a generic symbol of prejudice, racism and evil. We argue that the preventive perspective of teaching the Holocaust in school may suffer from this approach, as it decontextualises the genocide from its historical context, thereby making it more difficult for the students to understand. However, we also discuss how these shortcomings may be alleviated through a realisation of the importance of a collective memory culture when learning about the Holocaust, and how a historical contextualisation of the genocide may contribute to improved understanding of this historical subject. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - How textbook design may influence learning with geography textbooks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Behnke, Yvonne PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 38 EP - 62 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geography textbooks KW - textbook design KW - image-text research KW - graphics KW - photographs KW - eye tracking KW - geography KW - geografi AB - This paper investigates how textbook design may influence students’ visual attention to graphics, photos and text in current geography textbooks. Eye tracking, a visual method of data collection and analysis, was utilised to precisely monitor students’ eye movements while observing geography textbook spreads. In an exploratory study utilising random sampling, the eye movements of 20 students (secondary school students 15–17 years of age and university students 20–24 years of age) were recorded. The research entities were double-page spreads of current German geography textbooks covering an identical topic, taken from five separate textbooks. A two-stage test was developed. Each participant was given the task of first looking at the entire textbook spread to determine what was being explained on the pages. In the second stage, participants solved one of the tasks from the exercise section. Overall, each participant studied five different textbook spreads and completed five set tasks. After the eye tracking study, each participant completed a questionnaire. The results may verify textbook design as one crucial factor for successful knowledge acquisition from textbooks. Based on the eye tracking documentation, learning-related challenges posed by images and complex image-text structures in textbooks are elucidated and related to educational psychology insights and findings from visual communication and textbook analysis. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Bedömning som ett kunskapsideologiskt ställnings­tagande: lärares bedöm­ningsstrategier och samhällskunskaps­ämnets laborativa, analytiska och avgränsade kunskaps­innehåll T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Berg, Mikael PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 109 EP - 133 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - assessment practice KW - assessment strategies KW - subject didactics KW - social science didactics KW - social science concepts KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - utbildning och lärande AB - During the last decade, the Swedish research field has gained an increasing interest in what knowledge content to use in the subject of social science. However, less interest has been given the didactical questions on how and what relates to each other in constructing knowledge content. The aim of this article is, therefore, to explore how teacher’s assessment strategies relate to selecting knowledge content. The method used is semi-structured interviews with four experienced secondary school teachers on how they work with assessment. The results show three assessment strategies, which are reasoning, systematic and correcting assessment strategies. In different ways, the assessment strategies then relate to several knowledge content positions. Firstly, to a more tentatively and elaborating position with focus on the student’s questions. Secondly, to an analytical and progress-oriented position with focus on disciplinary concepts. Finally, to a more definitive and orienting position with focus on democratic values. Therefore, I argue that we need to pay more attention to the didactical question of how and what relates to understanding the complexity in constructing a knowledge content.                                                                                                                     ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Graderande granskning och förklarade glapp: Svensk historie- och samhällskunskapsdidaktisk forskning om lärares bedömningspraktik 2009–2019 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Berg, Mikael A1 - Persson, Anders PY - 2020 VL - 1 SP - 18 EP - 44 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - assessment KW - assessment practice KW - subject didactics KW - history didactics KW - social science didactics KW - utbildning och lärande KW - education and learning KW - subject-specific education AB - During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in the Swedish research field concerning assessment in schools, especially with focus on the school subject’s history and social science. The aim of this article is therefore to explore what perspectives that have being used by researchers in the Swedish field of history and social science subject didactic, when investigating teacher’s assessment practice. The method used in the article is a text analysis of 13 Swedish thesis and articles that deal with teacher’s assessment practice within the Swedish field of history and social science subject didactics between 2009 and 2019. The result shows that there an overwhelming part of the studies deals with examine teacher’s assessment practice. Another dominant trend is to explain the variations in teacher’s assessment practice. Overall the result shows that there is a lack of studies which begin with teachers subject specific experiences and also a lack of studies with a policy critical approach. To try to capture the complexity in assessment we therefore argue in the light of the result that there is a need of both a theoretical and cumulative broadening of the Swedish research field concerning teacher’s assessment with focus on the school subject’s history and social science. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historielärares historier: Ämnesbiografi och ämnesförståelse hos gymnasielärare i historia: Recension av David Ludvigsson T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Berg, Mikael PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 80 EP - 83 LA - swe KW - education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - "Att lyssna på lärarna" - en metodologisk utmaning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bergström, Göran A1 - Ekström, Linda PY - 2015 VL - 1 SP - 120 EP - 144 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - practice KW - teacher education KW - methodology KW - qualitative content analysis KW - samhällskunskap AB - Teacher education today is expected to strongly focus on pedagogical content knowledge. This means, among other things, increased attention to practice. However, how practice is to be analyzed and for what purpose practice is analyzed is still up for debate. In this article we turn to the growing field of civics didactics to shed light on these questions. The analysis is based on a qualitative content analysis of twelve Swedish dissertations in civics didactics. Our findings suggest that the field of civics didactics has contributed with important suggestions on how practice and academic knowledge may enrich each other. However, we also find that the ways that practice has been analyzed are characterized by methodological challenges. To overcome these, and to contribute to the civics didactics research and future independent research projects within the teacher education, we call for a broader research agenda. This means a stronger focus on methodological questions, on other kinds of research projects and on developing the practice of teaching, rather than solely describing it. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mellan ämne och didaktik – om ämnesteorins roll inom samhällskunskapsdidaktiken T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bergström, Göran A1 - Ekström, Linda PY - 2015 VL - 1 SP - 93 EP - 119 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - pedagogical content knowledge KW - content knowledge KW - civics KW - theoretically informed research problems KW - theoretically informed analytical frameworks KW - samhällskunskap AB - Pedagogical content knowledge is generally understood as a "bridge" between content and pedagogy, and therefore assumed to be theoretically informed by theories on both the content knowledge in question, and on general pedagogical knowledge. In this article we analyze whether this bridge exists in eleven Swedish civic didactics dissertations. This is done by developing a typology of how theory is used in relation to research problems and analytical frameworks. Our findings suggest that theories on content knowledge are downplayed in favor of pedagogical theories. We argue the need for strengthening the pillar of content knowledge, benefitting both research and teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - «La elva leve»: Alta-saken som rollespill i historieundervisninga T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bergum Johanson, Lisbeth A1 - Pedersen, Helge Christian PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 72 EP - 89 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - role play KW - historical consciousness KW - history and education KW - sámi history KW - sámi rights KW - alta-saken KW - rollespill KW - historiebevissthet KW - historieforståelse KW - historieundervisning KW - samisk historie KW - samiske rettigheter AB - The annual staging of a role play for school pupils called “La elva leve” (‘Let the River Live’) at Alta museum addresses the conflict over the building of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta-Kautokeino watercourse between 1978-82. The confrontation has an important legacy, not least by bringing the issue of Sámi Indigenous rights into the national limelight. This article discusses how the role play might serve as a starting point for teaching pupils about the conflict’s consequences for Sámi rights, and interrogates the degree to which this kind of role play might benefit the pupils’ awareness of history. Drawing on observations and interviews, we found that the pupils were strongly engaged in the play and that they found it both interesting and educational. However, while they also gained more knowledge about the conflict itself, there was little evidence that they connected the conflict to the Sámi struggle for indigenous rights, or that their historical consciousness expanded significantly. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Videnstaksonomier, progression og fordybelse i historieundervisning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bjerre, Loa Ingeborg A1 - Dorf, Hans PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 24 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historiedidaktik KW - progression KW - vidensformer KW - perspektivskifte KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The present article discusses, first, a conception of learning progression which understands pupils’ (history) learning as a question of their ‘ascending’ to more and more advanced taxonomical levels of reflection – and which has played a major role in history didactics generally as well as in a Danish context in particular. Against this conception the article argues that (history) learning progression should be understood as a many-sided phenomenon to which a number of different forms of knowledge contribute and which cannot adequately be conceived as an increasing command of a sequence of (meta-)levels of reflection but needs a wider understanding of the nature of knowledge. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Barn skriver historia: En studie av fjärdeklassares skrivande i historieämnet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Björk, Oscar A1 - Nolgård, Olle A1 - Nygren, Thomas PY - 2020 VL - 2020 IS - 10 SP - 73 EP - 106 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - systemic functional linguistics KW - the historical past KW - the practical past KW - historical literacy KW - early school writing AB - In this study we analyze subject specific content in texts written in history education in school year 4 in a Swedish context. The study employs two different approaches to (text) content analysis: Analysis of representation of an historic vis-à-vis a practical perspective on the past, and analysis of the specific linguistic construals of the texts, based on a systemic functional linguistics approach. The results from the analyses are then compared to enable a synergetic account of the specific linguistic fabrics of the two historical perspectives. The results show that there are key differences in how the historical vis-à-vis the practical perspective on the past are linguistically construed, thus highlighting the intricacies of writing in history education. These findings are significant for researchers and teachers interested in furthering emergent historical literacy in early school years. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - En komparativ förståelse av ämnesdidaktiska prepositioner T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Björkgren, Mårten A1 - Ahlskog-Björkman, Eva A1 - Enkvist, Nina A1 - Gullberg, Tom PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 45 EP - 72 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - prepositioner KW - ämnesövergripande KW - subject-specific education AB - The national curricular guidelines for basic education and upper secondary school require teachers to have a readiness to teach and cooperate in accordance with a holistic multidisciplinary principle. The teacher education programmes in Finland are challenged to develop research-based knowledge about learning processes in holistic multidisciplinary teaching concerning both theory and practice. In this article, focus is put on comparisons between the subject-didactic perspectives of Art, Religion, History, and Social Studies. Referring to Lindström, the prepositions about, in, with and through are used as a point of departure for the aesthetic fields. The comparison is based on the prepositional perspective and particularly focusses on the understanding of the didactic emphases and ambitions. The subject-comparative reflection between similarities and differences is based on a socio-cultural view of learning, and the perspectives qualification, socialisation and subjectification by Giert Biesta. The article contributes to a consciousness about meaningful subject-didactic prerequisites for holistic multidisciplinary cooperation. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mot en ämnesintegrativ helhetssyn – ett digitalt utvecklingsprojekt i finländsk lärarutbildning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Björkgren, Mårten A1 - Gullberg, Tom A1 - Hilli, Charlotta PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 170 EP - 187 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - ämnesintegrerat KW - ämnesöverskridande KW - helhetssyn KW - digital undervisning KW - värdegrund KW - historieundervisning KW - religionsundervisning KW - samhällslära KW - arabiska våren AB - The school teaching in Finland is traditionally divided into different subject lessons. Although several curricula for decades have stressed the importance of integrating subjects to each other, the didactical development of subject integrated teaching has been quite week. The authors of this article are all involved in the training of subject teachers for the Swedish schools in Finland. The article stresses the importance of integrating subject content knowledge into value education. With the theoretical discussion as a starting point, the authors describe their subject integrated project for student teachers in history, social science, religion, philosophy and literature. During the working process it was obvious that the student teachers used their own subject content knowledge, but as they worked in mixed subject groups, they also realized how to co-operate and ask questions to persons with other kinds of subject content knowledge and perspectives. It was challenging for the student teachers to combine new subject integrated perspectives with new digital methods, but considering the ambitions of the curricula, these kinds of integrated processes seems to be important in teacher training. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Curriculum Taking and Curriculum Making? Educational context and financial literacy teaching in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Björklund, Mattias PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 129 EP - 152 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - financial literacy KW - pedagogical content knowledge KW - experienced teachers KW - novice teachers KW - social studies KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The aim of this article is to explore how experienced and novice Swedish social studies teachers form their financial literacy aims since they teach financial literacy without having any formal financial literacy training. This leaves both educational aims as well as teaching practice regarding financial literacy unresolved. Using teacher interviews, this article investigates how experienced and novice teachers use competencies beside content and pedagogical knowledge when planning and executing their financial literacy teaching in social studies. This knowledge is referred to as knowledge of context. Findings suggest that experienced teachers do not consult syllabus in an elaborate manner, instead they adapt their teaching in relation to educational programme, students’ age and life-world. Novice teachers, however, teach according to syllabus and do so consistently regardless of which students they teach. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Curriculum Taking and Curriculum Making? Educational context and financial literacy teaching in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Björklund, Mattias PY - 2020 VL - 2 IS - 10 SP - 129 EP - 152 LA - eng KW - financial literacy KW - pedagogical content knowledge KW - experienced teachers KW - novice teachers KW - social studies KW - subject learning and teaching KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The aim of this article is to explore how experienced and novice Swedish social studies teachers form their financial literacy aimssince they teach financial literacy without having any formal financial literacy training. This leaves both educationalaims as well as teaching practice regarding financial literacy unresolved. Using teacher interviews, this articleinvestigateshow experienced and novice teachers usecompetencies beside content and pedagogical knowledge when planning and executing their financial literacy teachingin social studies. This knowledge is referred to as knowledge of context. Findings suggest that experienced teachers do not consult syllabus in an elaborate manner, instead they adapt their teaching in relation to educational programme, students’ age and life-world. Novice teachers, however, teach according to syllabus and do so consistently regardless of whichstudents they teach. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2023:1 Jubileum T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bladh, Gabriel A1 - Spanget Christensen, Torben A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2023 VL - 1 EP - 1 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Research on Geography Education. Introduction to Nordidactica 2016:1 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bladh, Gabriel A1 - Molin, Lena PY - 2016 VL - 2016 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - samhällskunskap ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Med samhället i centrum – Medborgarskapsutbildningen och samhällskunskapsämnets relevans T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Blanck, Sara A1 - Lödën, Hans PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 28 EP - 47 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - medborgarskapsutbildning KW - samhälle KW - samhällskunskap KW - samhällsanalytiskt tänkande AB - The aim of this article is to suggest "society" and "social analytical thinking" as the core concepts for the social science (Swedish: samhällskunskap) subject. Thus, the article contributes to the ongoing research debate on social science education by exploring the question whether social science is at risk of losing its position as the central citizenship subject in Swedish school. This risk is problematized and discussed. The authors argue that the relevance of the social science subject matter would be clarified and strengthened by making "society" and "social analytical thinking" into the core concepts of the subject. The proposal means that the scientific disciplines (i.e., political science, sociology, economics and law) that contribute to the social sciences subject by relating to these concepts can clarify the discipline-specific knowledge and perspectives that are considered crucial for a society to be formed and survive. The article also discusses community engagement and what may be a relevant level of ambition for compulsory citizenship education, from the perspective of the citizen as "a reflective spectator". The possibilities to develop the pupils' community, or social, engagement is illustrated by means of current Swedish classroom research on teachers' use of concepts and social analytical thinking in teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Förnuft och känsla: Om emotioners roll i kunskapsprocessen i samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Blennow, Katarina PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 1 EP - 19 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällskunskap KW - emotioner KW - känslor AB - Emotions have traditionally been considered the enemy of reason in Social Science. However, emotions can both enhance and hinder learning in Social Science. It is therefore important to reflect upon why and how emotions play a role, rather than shutting the emotions out or leaving them unreflected in the teaching. This paper draws on ethnographic data from Social Science teaching in four Swedish upper secondary schools, and is inspired by previous, predominantly German, research and theoretical reflections on emotions in Social Science teaching and learning. In this paper it is argued that emotions should be seen as a relevant didactical category in Social Science and that students’ emotions should be taken into account in the teaching. A conclusion is that emotions can have at least six different functions in the teaching and learning of Social Science. More specifically, it concerns learning for, from, with, and through emotions, as well as relationality of emotions and learning about emotions. Another important conclusion from the ethnographic data is that students of Social Science are more active than the teachers in managing the emotions in the classroom. By carefully examining the emotions in the classroom, as well as the role of emotions in politics and social life at large, the teacher could get more insight into and more influence on the learning potential of emotions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kritisk tenkning i bærekraftundervisning: en kvalitativ analyse av ungdoms perspektiver på klimatiltak. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Borge, Julie Ane Ødegaard A1 - Langø, Mona PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 111 EP - 134 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - critical thinking KW - climate change mitigation KW - young people´s political participation KW - education for sustainable development KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The climate crisis is one of many societal challenges young people in the 21 century are faced with. In this article we explore students in the 9th grade (age 14) perspectives on climate change mitigation. We recorded 3 groups of students, followed by 4 focus group interviews, as the students were discussing in class which climate policy they considered most important and why. In this article we present unique data about which perspectives young people take into consideration when discussing climate change mitigation. We conclude that the students bring different perspectives into their assessments and make up their minds about which climate policies to recommend, but to a lesser extent use the (conflicting) different perspectives in reaching conclusions. The findings contribute both to a deeper understanding of young people's critical thinking when it comes to climate change mitigation and to an increased insight into the possibilities and challenges of practicing critical thinking in school. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Demokratiopplæring gjennom demokratisk erfaring T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Borgebund, Harald A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 46 EP - 65 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - demokratiopplæring KW - demokratididaktikk KW - deliberativt demokrati KW - deltagerdemokrati KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - A growing, multidisciplinary literature on the didactics of democracy has evolved. It is marked by different theoretical perspectives, and a dominant perspective emphasises deliberative and participation. In this literature, it is argued that such democracy can best be learned through democratic experiences at school. Assuming that such experiences are valuable, we raise the question of whether also other forms of democracy than deliberative participation may be learnt by school based experiences. If education for democracy is to be relevant for participation in political life, this is an important question. The article first argues that deliberative participation is a dominant perspective in didactics of democracy in Norway as well as internationally. Next, other notions of democracy are introduced before it is discussed to what extent these different notions of democracy can be experienced at school. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Introduction 2013:1 Globalization and School Subjects T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Broman, Anders A1 - Hobel, Peter A1 - Christensen, Torben Spanget PY - 2013 VL - 2013 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - globalization KW - school subjects KW - citizenship education KW - education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Research on Religious Education in Nordic Countries: Introduction to Nordidactica 2015:2 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bråten, Oddrun M.H. PY - 2015 VL - 2015 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - nordic re research KW - comparative perspectives KW - greenland KW - denmark KW - norway KW - iceland KW - finland KW - religious studies and theology AB - This issue of the journal Nordidactica focuses on research in the field of religious education (RE). In Oddrun M. H. Bråten’s article, a methodology for comparative studies is presented and a comparative analysis conducted, centering on the use of the concepts of ‘learning about and from’ in Religious Education in England and Norway. In Jonathan Doney’s article we can read about the impact of the Ecumenical movement on the history of RE in England. Elisabet Haakedal discusses and compares two action research projects. Martin Ubani and a team of Finnish researchers present findings from research on RE teacher students. Gunnar J. Gunnarson and colleagues present findings from a study of Icelandic youths in a plural society, where they use theory of friendship and fear. Kathrine Kjærgaard provides us with insights into Greenlandic RE. In Mette Buchardt’s article, we can read about the role of Cultural Protestantism in developments in RE in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Together these articles give a glimpse into the rich area of RE research today. In this introduction, I present the articles before offering some perspectives on the texts, promoting a more general discussion using my methodology as an analytical device. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Should there be wonder and awe? A three-dimensional and four levels comparative methodology used to discuss the "learning from" aspect of English and Norwegian RE T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bråten, Oddrun M.H. PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 1 EP - 23 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - methodology KW - comparative studies KW - england and norway KW - religious education KW - learning about and from KW - religious studies and theology AB - In this article, I will discuss how the idea of ‘learning about and from’ religion in Religious Education (RE) exist in both the English and Norwegian context. A main purpose of this article is to present a suggested template for comparative studies in religious education, where the discussion of this particular issue serves as example of how this can be applied. This template is a synthesis of two sets of ideas. The first is an idea of three dimensions in comparative education: supranational, national and sub-national processes. The second is the idea of levels of curriculum: societal, institutional, instructional and experiential. A basic criterion for my concept of comparative studies is a conception of comparative studies as studies of developments in specific countries/ nations in a supranational perspective. This methodology provides a framework for capturing different levels of national processes within a supranational context, which I believe are relevant for further international and comparative studies of religion in education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Cultural Protestantism and Nordic Religious Education: An incision in the historical layers behind the Nordic Welfare state model T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Buchardt, Mette PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 131 EP - 165 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - cultural protestantism KW - liberal theology KW - the nordic model of education KW - history of education KW - curriculum KW - transnational agents KW - welfare state history KW - church history KW - theology KW - religious studies and theology AB - Is there a Nordic model for Religious Education? The article explores how Cultural Protestantism and Liberal Theology influenced the ways in which Religious Education developed in Sweden, Denmark and Norway from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century as part of the transformation of the relations between church and state. Situated between history of education and curriculum, church history and transnational welfare state history, the article focuses on three transnationally acting theologians, early historians and psychologists of religion and public debaters who involved themselves in the question of education, namely Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931), Edvard Lehmann (1862-1930) and Eivind Berggrav (1884-1959), who serve as prisms for the transnational historical analysis of what takes place between states and social fields. The article suggests that Nordic Cultural Protestantism contributed to a model of religious education which in complex ways combines secularization in the meaning of division of the church-state relation with sacralization of the state and its so-called culture. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Education research in welfare state Denmark. A historical and institutional perspective on an epistemological discussion T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Buchardt, Mette PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 49 EP - 65 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education research KW - epistemology of subject matter didactics KW - institutionalization KW - professionalization KW - academization KW - policy KW - religious studies and theology AB - The article deals with forms of knowledge and types of research interests in scholarly work on Religious Education at the primary and lower secondary levels in Denmark throughout the heyday of the welfare state from the 1960s and up until the 2000s, when the welfare state model not least with regard to education was in transition. The point of departure is the work and oeuvre of K.E. Bugge, for many years – and remaining until now – the last professor of Religious Education in Denmark, namely at the Royal Danish School of Education (Danmarks Lærerhøjskole) which reorganized as Danish University of Education in 2000. The article situates his doctoral dissertation "The school for life. Studies concerning the pedagogical ideas of N. F. S. Grundtvig" (1965) in its institutional context and compares the forms of knowledge it produced with three PhD dissertations defended during the 2000s and thus in a changed institutional field. Drawing on the conceptual understanding of the field of educational sciences deriving from Hofstetter and Schneuwly (2002), the article analyzes ways of doing research in and related to Religious Education and the scholarly disciplines involved. Focus will be on the relation between the academic disciplines studying religion and the educational sciences in their many disciplinary forms and on the relation between the field of sciences and the field of educational practice. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kanon eller inte kanon? En enkätstudie bland samhällskunskapslärare i årskurs 7–9 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bäckström, Pontus A1 - Öberg, Joakim PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 20 EP - 56 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällskunskap KW - samhällskunskapsdidaktik KW - ämneskanon KW - ämnestradition KW - social studies KW - civics KW - subject didactics AB - The aim of the present study is to investigate whether social studies in compulsory school grades 7–9 can be perceived as having a clear canon regarding subject content, methods, used sources and examination methods. Previous research has suggested that social studies is unclear, vague and that it lacks a subject canon. The results of the present study points in both directions. On the one hand, the study shows that there is a clear core of content around which lower secondary social studies teaching revolves and a common foundation regarding how this content is mainly conveyed and examined. On the other hand, the study shows that there is also great variation between different teachers, variation that can be partly explained by the teachers' preferences. Different teachers seem to have different preferences when it comes to how they teach, what methods and sources they use and how sections are examined. For example, there are significant correlations between how teachers who use group-based methods also use group-based examinations. An important factor for the variation between teachers can be traced to gender. At group level, we see differences regarding male and female teachers based on subject matter, methods, sources and examination methods. In general, there is a common core for most social studies teachers, regardless of gender, but female teachers tend to cover a broader subject content, use a wider array of methods and sources and more varied forms of examination. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Når elever gør kultur og bruger historie T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bøndergaard Butters, Nanna PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 53 EP - 82 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - history teaching KW - intercultural educational strategies KW - identity KW - plurilingual teaching KW - parental involvement AB - When Students Do Culture and Use HistoryThe article discusses the production and reproduction of cultural identities, cultural communities, cultural experiences and differences in three different history classrooms. The empirical case study material consists of observations followed by three individual interviews with history teachers. The setting is an urban Danish public school, with 60 per cent plurilingual students. Central analytical concepts are derived from social constructivism and, in particular, a dynamic and complex understanding of culture. History is here understood as a subject in which culture is preserved and transmitted but also as a subject in which culture and identities are developed, negotiated and differentiated. The article suggests that intercultural history education should be about making the students aware of these processes as they take place during history lessons, as metareflection on the historical knowledge construction process. The empirical case study suggests this is not yet the case as teachers’ intentions to implement intercultural perspectives are challenged by curricular demands. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Engasjementsfaget - Er samfunnskunnskap engasjerende for elevene? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil A1 - Langø, Mona PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 45 EP - 64 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social science KW - engagement KW - samfunnskunnskap KW - engasjement KW - læring KW - didaktikk KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Elevenes engasjement i samfunnskunnskap kan ses både som en del av elevenes forutsetninger for faget, samtidig som det er et mål for faget. Det er imidlertid ofte uklart hva som menes med det, og den forskningsbaserte innsikten i elevenes engasjement er begrenset. I denne artikkelen skilles det mellom engasjement som deltagelse i undervisningen, som emosjon, kognitivt engasjement utover deltagelse i undervisningen og som sosialt og politisk engasjement.  Problemstillingen er derfor: i hvilken grad engasjeres elevene til å delta i undervisningen og i hvilken grad engasjeres de emosjonelt, kognitivt eller politisk av og i samfunnskunnskap? Problemstillingen drøftes mot et intervjumateriale fra 9 elever i Sosiologi og sosialantropologi på videregående nivå. Resultatene viser at engasjement for trekk ved faget bidrar til at deltagelse i undervisningen er svakt, mens emosjonelt og politisk engasjement i noen grad kan spores. Student engagement i social science in secondary school is both a condition and an objective for teaching. The term engagement is, however, rather unclear and empirical research scarce. In this article, distinctions are made between engagement as following teaching actively, emotional engagement, cognitive engagement beyond following teaching in class, and finally political and social engagement. The research question is therefore: to what extent are students engaged to participate in class room teaching, and to what extent are they engaged emotionally, cognitively and politically? The research questions are examined  based on interviews with 9 upper secondary school students. It is concluded that students only partially follow the teaching, while emoitional and political engagement develops to some extent. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kampen om samfunnsfaget – eit forskingsoversyn med vekt på lærarane si rolle T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil A1 - Helsvig, Kim PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 28 EP - 48 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - lærarprofesjonalitet KW - fagdidaktikk KW - samfunnsfag KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Subject matter didactics is concerned with all aspects of a school subject. However, this literature is strikingly uninterested in what influences and may influence the subject matter itself. Didactically competent, critical  teachers ought to understand how the subject is influenced by many actors, and that they themselves may take part in this process. To exercise such critical thinking, the teacher profession needs a widely defined subject matter didactics as part of their knowledge basis. The subject may be influenced from many levels, transnational, national and local. Considering increasing emphasis on Norwegian teachers as reflective professional practitioners, we would expect them to make a major difference at several of these levels. If not, professionalism is rather weak. Research about what influences the social studies subject has to start from a review of existing research, and this article is a review of research about what has influenced and shaped the Norwegian social studies subject. The conclusion is that the matter is not much explored, but the sparse research that do exist suggests that the teachers are not a driving force in the development of the subject. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Politisk handlingskompetanse for berekraftig utvikling T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil A1 - Neby, Simon PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 88 EP - 109 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - climate education KW - political education KW - action competence KW - sustainability education KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - An important question is what to teach concerning how students may influence and contribute to a sustainable future. At the Nordic level we have several important contributions that elaborate on this. The research question for this theoretical article is to what extent these contributions define an action competence that may facilitate and help students to engage politically for a sustainable future. Such competence includes taking a stand in policy issues and an ability to work politically for preferred policies. The literature is more concerned with taking a stand on policy issues than on working politically, but also the policy assessment part is problematic because it is not sufficiently related to the political system and how policies are developed.  In the article, core Nordic contributions are discussed and some possible developments of the sustainability didactics are suggested, in order to make it more politically relevant.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vurdering i samfunnskunnskap: Kunnskaper, ferdigheter eller holdninger? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil A1 - Langø, Mona PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 72 EP - 94 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - vurdering KW - samfunnskunnskap KW - kunnskaper KW - faglige ferdigheter KW - holdninger KW - samhällskunskap KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - To the extent that assessment in social studies has been examined empirically, it suggests that, although factual knowledge is still important, skills are also included. However, it is unclear which knowledge and skills are being measured, and it is unclear whether values and attitudes play a role in assessment practice in the subject. Therefore, there is a need to examine in more detail what is assessed in social studies. As a contribution to this, we ask: What is assessed, according to teachers themselves, when formal and planned assessments are arranged in the Norwegian compulsory social studies subject at upper secondary level 1? The basis for the discussion is an interview material with 9 teachers about their assessment practice. It is an important finding that the teachers in no way report that they restrict themselves to assessing the reproduction of knowledge, but also assess various skills. Both discussions, discussion of different political positions, analysis of what there is empirical evidence for and what the students themselves think, are important skills. Overall, it must be said that the open form of reflection and the discussion of different opinions on current issues are just as evident in the teachers´ assessment practices as the subject-specific analysis. The subject-specific skill that is most clearly formulated concerns empirical investigations using social science methods. It is striking that attitudes and values are hardly visible in the assessment practices that are revealed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Watching, assessing, participating.: Globalising political education in Norwegian upper secondary education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Børhaug, Kjetil PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 17 EP - 35 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - political socialization KW - globalization KW - international politics KW - social science KW - norway AB - Transnational governance is expanding rapidly. From a political education perspective, an important question is to what extent and how these are included in the political universe that adolescents are being prepared for at school. Of particular interest is social science, which is part of social studies in primary and lower secondary school, before it develops into a variety of social science courses in upper secondary school. Including the transnational level in political education may mean critical thinking about current transnational issues as well as understanding how to participate politically with a transnational aim. Are these elements included in Norwegian political education in social science at school? And if so, is such participation related to notions of influence, power and conflicting interests? Or are notions of participation based on classical idealism? The research method is an analysis of selected social science textbooks in Norwegian upper secondary education. Textbooks are not assumed to determine teaching, but they are assumed to frame the field within which teachers develop their practice. The analysis shows that in the textbooks political education is expanded to a transnational level, where both political judgement of issues as well as participation are elaborated upon. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Demokrati- og medborgerskabsbegreber i grundskolens samfundsfag i Danmark, Norge, Sverige og Tyskland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Christensen, Anders Stig PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 64 EP - 92 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - citizenship education KW - social science education KW - concepts of democracy KW - samhällskunskap AB - Citizenship education and social science education aims at preparing the students for participation in the development of democratic societies. But which concept of democracy is the education based on, and aimed at? This article takes as its point of departure a discussion of concepts of democracy/citizenship including liberal, communitarian, republican and deliberative democracy. Through an analysis of curricula from social science education or citizenship education in lower secondary schools in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and politische Bildung (political education) in Berlin-Brandenburg, it is discussed which concepts of citizenship prevail in these, and, in the case of Denmark and Sweden, how these have developed in the last 40 years. Furthermore it is discussed, with reference to the German "Beutelsbacher-Konsensus" whether the citizenship education should be aimed at one concept of democracy if this concept is contested in itself. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2014:2 To stærke tendenser i Nordidactica – temanumre og artikler af enkeltforskere T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Christensen, Torben Spanget A1 - Hobel, Peter PY - 2014 VL - 2014 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2015:1: Fagdidaktiske artikler i religion geografi, historie og samfundsfag og review af svenske samfundsfagsdidaktiske afhandlinger T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Christensen, Torben Spanget A1 - Hobel, Peter PY - 2015 VL - 2015 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällskunskap ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Interdisciplinaritet – en udfordring til fagdidaktikken T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Christensen, Torben Spanget A1 - Hobel, Peter PY - 2014 VL - 2014 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - school subjects KW - interdisciplinarity KW - social science education KW - elementary and secondary school KW - fag KW - interdisciplinaritet KW - samfundsfagene KW - grundskole og ungdosmuddannelser AB - This editorial outlines a theoretical, general didactical framework for analysing demands for interdisciplinarity that we see arising in the school system, and why they occur. It also outlines a theoretical, subject specific didactically framework for analysing challenges school subjects are facing when meet with the requirement of interdisciplinarity. The intention is to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the theme of interdisciplinarity in Social Science Education in primary and secondary education and also to set a frame which cuts across the questions taken up in the various articles of this issue. It thus provides a scaffold for transverse reflections on general and subject specific didactic problems related to interdisciplinarity in primary and secondary education and in teacher training programmes. We also give short introductions to how each article in Nordidactica 2014:1 contributes to the theme of interdisciplinarity. For more adequate introductions we refer to the abstracts of the articles themselves. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Barbara Wintersgill’s Big Ideas for Religious Education and the National Entitlement to the Study of Religions and Worldviews in England. Some reflections on a Big Ideas approach to curriculum planning in an English context from a participant in both projects. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Cush, Denise PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 95 EP - 108 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - big ideas KW - religious education KW - commission on re in england AB - This paper examines the thinking behind the six 'Big Ideas' suggested in Wintersgill 2017 as a way of deciding what is most important in RE and some of the ways in which this is being developed for practice. The project was based on the theory of 'Big Ideas' developed by Wiggins and McTighe and as applied to the science curriculum by Harlen et al.  It aimed to address questions such as how to select and sequence content, and how to make RE more coherent and more engaging for pupils. The paper discusses the suggestion that further 'Big Ideas' are needed, such as the Big Ideas concerned with methodology and epistemology proposed by Freathy and John 2019, or Big Ideas about religion such as theories of its origin and purpose. The relationship between Wintersgill's publication and the 'National Entitlement to the Study of Religion and Worldviews' proposed by the final report of the Commission on Religious Education 2018 is explored by the author who was involved in both projects. The 'National Entitlement' was developed with a similar concern to identify the essentials of RE, without which the subject (renamed by the Commission as 'Religion and Worldviews') cannot be grasped adequately. However, the attempt to provide depth rather than breadth of learning should not be translated into narrowing of content in the sense of a reduction in the religions and non-religious worldviews studied, but instead might even draw upon a wider range of religious and non-religious traditions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sambandsvävar för att utveckla elevers systemgeografiska kunnande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessen Jankell, Lotta PY - 2023 IS - 2 SP - 75 EP - 110 LA - swe KW - systemgeografisk sambandsväv KW - systemtänkande KW - systemgeografiskt kunnande KW - geografiundervisning KW - designprinciper KW - praktikteori KW - hållbar utveckling KW - educational science KW - pedagogik med inriktning mot utbildningsvetenskap AB - The school subject of Geography deals with complex issues that involve changes of the Earth systems that human systems are depending of, such as climate change and related key sustainability issues. The subject content requires an understanding of complex multicausal and dynamic relationships between nature, people and societies and span over large temporal and spatial scales. A systems approach has been suggested as a way of dealing with this complexity. This article reports from a design study that examines how different factors in Geography teaching can enable or impede, different aspects of upper secondary students' systems geographical knowing. Furthermore, the article discusses how this knowing can also be seen as aspects of critical thinking in geography. The teaching intervention used a specifically designed system geographical connection model. The purpose of the article is to contribute with four tentative design principles that aim to provide teaching conditions for students to: I) experience the idea of a complex issue in terms of a specific system, II) test and use system geographical concepts for constructing the system, III) examine and anchor the constructed system in place-specific contexts and IV) synthesise, interpret and evaluate consequences based on different perspectives in order to develop critical thinking. With these principles the article contributes with knowledge that teachers can use to organise geography teaching around sustainability issues and discuss how system aspects can contribute to critical thinking in geography.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sambandsvävar för att utveckla elevers systemgeografiska kunnande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessen Jankell, Lotta PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 75 EP - 110 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - systemgeografisk sambandsväv KW - systemtänkande KW - systemgeografiskt kunnande KW - geografiundervisning KW - designprinciper KW - praktikteori KW - hållbar utveckling KW - geography KW - geografi KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The school subject of Geography deals with complex issues that involve changes of the Earth systems that human systems are depending of, such as climate change and related key sustainability issues. The subject content requires an understanding of complex multicausal and dynamic relationships between nature, people and societies and span over large temporal and spatial scales. A systems approach has been suggested as a way of dealing with this complexity. This article reports from a design study that examines how different factors in Geography teaching can enable or impede, different aspects of upper secondary students' systems geographical knowing. Furthermore, the article discusses how this knowing can also be seen as aspects of critical thinking in geography. The teaching intervention used a specifically designed system geographical connection model. The purpose of the article is to contribute with four tentative design principles that aim to provide teaching conditions for students to: I) experience the idea of a complex issue in terms of a specific system, II) test and use system geographical concepts for constructing the system, III) examine and anchor the constructed system in place-specific contexts and IV) synthesise, interpret and evaluate consequences based on different perspectives in order to develop critical thinking. With these principles the article contributes with knowledge that teachers can use to organise geography teaching around sustainability issues and discuss how system aspects can contribute to critical thinking in geography.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Developing Critical Historical Consciousness: Re-thinking the Dynamics between History and Memory in History Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessingué, Alexandre PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 17 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical consciousness KW - memory KW - history culture KW - memory culture KW - history education KW - epistemology KW - phenomenology AB -  Over the past 20 years, concepts of historical thinking and historical consciousness have received increasing attention in the field of history education and history didactics. This new orientation in the teaching of history has involved the need to take into account the complexity of the historical discourse and more generally the multiple ways in which people relate to their individual and collective pasts. It has also implied the need to consider the diversity of "places" where history occurs. In this article, I will take a closer look at the relationships between the concepts of historical consciousness and memory, which, to a certain extent, seem to be neglected and misunderstood in the teaching of history and history education in general. More specifically, I will frame what I call a ‘third way’ for history education in relation to Ricoeur’s theories and the connections and nuances he establishes between epistemology of history and phenomenology of memory. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Dynamisk kulturarv, kritisk literacy og (fler)kulturforståelse i norsk grunnskole? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessingué, Alexandre PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 22 EP - 46 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - humanities in education KW - democracy KW - critical heritage KW - critical literacy KW - critical awareness KW - cultural memory studies KW - norwegian curricula AB - In 2010 and 2011 several political leaders in Europe took distance from the multicultural society model. The concept of cultural heritage has been central to this political debate. But this concept is also central in education and actively used both in the general part of the curriculum in Norway and also in the curricula of several subjects. This article examines how «cultural heritage» is defined and used in three central curricula: Norwegian, Religious Studies and Ethics (KRLE), and Social Sciences, at a macro level (subject’s purpose) and also at a micro level (learning outcomes). To analyze how this concept is used in these curricula is an important premise for being able to think critically about this concept within the classroom. It also creates a better prerequisite for understanding the extent to which these subjects are focusing on a more or less dynamic and inclusive understanding of identity, as well as a self-reflexive and critical skills development ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Myndiggjøring gjennom kritisk minnebevissthet: Minnestudier i didaktisk perspektiv T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessingué, Alexandre A1 - Knutsen, Ketil PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 25 EP - 41 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - memory KW - memory culture KW - critical memory consciousness KW - collective memory KW - empowerment KW - history education KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article is a discussion of memory from a didactic perspective. The starting point is to frame memory theory which studies memory processes as phenomena in perpetual negotiation between understandings of the past, present interests and needs, and future expectations. To empower students as independent participants in memory cultures they are part of, it is not enough as history didactics prescribe – to learn history as a narrative about the past based on official sources (as historical epistemology) or through the analyses of different uses of history (as historical phenomenology). Over the past 30 years we have assisted at a "memory boom". Today history can be understood and analysed as one of many different memory acts that define and redefine the past and the societies we live in. In the article, we therefore develop the concept of critical memory consciousness and argue for a memory didactics that empower students by allowing them to analyse memories as resulting from collective, cultural and dialogic processes. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rethinking Historical Relevance in the 21st Century: An Exploration of Historical Consciousness Among High School Students in Norway T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Dessingué, Alexandre PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 48 EP - 75 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history culture KW - historical consciousness KW - high school students KW - history education KW - mixed-method KW - students’ engagement KW - historical relevance KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper delves into the history culture and historical consciousness among high school students in Western Norway, drawing on a survey of 274 participants. It examines their perceptions of history and interests in the subject, employing both quantitative analysis of scaled questions and qualitative exploration of open-ended responses. Through pattern-matching, the study identifies key themes and perspectives in students’ answers, highlighting the significant influence of both epistemological and phenomenological aspects of history education in the expression of interests and relevance. Specifically, the research uncovers how students justify their interest or desinterest in history through four distinct chronotopes: actualisation, distanciation, anticipation and disconnection. The study advocates for history educators to cultivate a model of critical historical consciousness by encouraging social, cultural and political engagement and integrating metacognitive teaching activities that emphasize the question of historical relevance. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - How did it become possible? Supranational Ecumenical developments and changes in Religious Education during the 1960s and 1970s T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Doney, Jonathan PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 24 EP - 46 LA - eng KW - religious education KW - ecumenism KW - supranational KW - foucault KW - religious studies and theology AB - Existing historiographies of Religious Education (RE) are often written from within national boundaries, reflecting the particular relationship between church and state within those bounded spaces; further, they often focus on the question ‘what happened?’. During the 1960s significant developments took place in the supranational discourse of Christian ecumenism, including the expansion of dialogue between Christians and those of other worldviews (both religious and non-religious) particularly as a result of the Second Vatican Council (1962-5) and the work of the World Council of Churches (established 1948). These supranational ecumenical discourses transcend national boundaries and thus have potential to influence even the most nationally-orientated educational systems. However, their significance has hitherto been overlooked. Using a method derived from the historical work of Michel Foucault, which focuses on the question ‘how did this become possible?’, this paper demonstrates the extent to which an awareness of supranational ecumenical discourses enriches understandings of the development of World Religions Teaching in Religious Education. The English context is used as an exemplar, through a single case study, and the potential of the approach is discussed in relation to other national contexts. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Is There a Potential for Norway to Learn from the Ethics Education in the Educational System of India? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Duesund, Knut PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 142 EP - 164 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - ethics education KW - international education KW - multicultural education KW - comparative research in education KW - national integrity KW - religious tolerance KW - curriculum inquiry KW - education for peace KW - religious studies and theology AB - The aim of this article is to contribute to the on-going debate about how the Norwegian educational system can meet increasing diversity in schools. The focus here is to investigate ethics education in the Indian educational system and thereafter discuss to what extent Norway can learn from India. The background study in India was carried out to clarify the justification for, content of and pedagogy for ethics education and draws attention to the intended as well as the implemented sector of education. The following discussion highlights the main findings from the background study and relates these findings both to the current discussion in Norway and to international research in the field. The article concludes that Norway would do well to consider what can be learned from the Indian approach to ethics education in order to meet the challenges of the increasing diversity in the Norwegian schools. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hvordan har didaktiske dilemma i undervisningsplanlegging konsekvenser for literacy-praksis? – et eksempel fra et geografiemne i ungdomsskolens samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Egenæs Staurseth, Hanne PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 28 EP - 53 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - dilemmas KW - social studies KW - educational planning KW - understanding by design KW - disciplinary literacy KW - geography KW - geografi AB - When new ideas or curriculum find their way into schools, it is the teachers’ job to transform them into teachable units. Transformations demand ongoing choices in dilemmas between structure and improvisation. This study examines one lower secondary school teacher’s planning and enactment of a unit in geography through participant observation and interview. It analyses tensions between structure and improvisation in his planning documents, enacted learning activities and retrospect explanations. Three main dilemmas are uncovered: The teacher has to balance between the school’s strict timeframes and his own aim of teaching for deep learning, between ambitious backward designed goals and the need to adjust in the enactment, and between giving his students scaffolds and opportunities to explore. He solves these dilemmas by cutting science content and integrating first language lessons into the unit, by creating a flexible progression plan structured by subgoals, and by scaffolding the students’ knowledge acquisition while letting them improvise in tasks. This article discusses what kind of literacy-practice these solutions create, and asks whether the following would help the students both see the core of social studies and navigate the subjects: explicitly discussing the division of labour between the subjects, framing the unit with a big idea, and refocus the scaffolds from knowledge acquisition to knowledge application. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Verdifulle ferdigheiter. Ulike perspektiv på samfunnskunnskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eide, Thomas Ringen PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 55 EP - 87 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies didactics KW - skills KW - research literature KW - ideal pupils KW - sociology of knowledge KW - samhällskunskap KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - School subject skills have been increasingly actualized in the past years, believed to make subjects more useable. In social studies didactics, there are problems understanding and operationalizing skills in research, curricula, and teaching. To get a better understanding on this topic, I use Luc Boltanski og Laurent Thévenot’s theory to look at how pupils’ skills are understood and valued. I analyse perspectives in the Nordic research literature, and identify three traditions: Citizenship Education, Bildung, and Literacy, and discuss ten facets. Although skills are sparsely discussed in the literature, I find a variety of skills related to opinions about what an ideal pupil must be able to do which are heterogeneous despite commonalities. While analysing theory, in practice one can imagine that students are presented with several ideal student dispositions and choose approaches that suit them. Different perspectives have limitations and problems that are important to consider, because choice of subject facilities has academic and political implications. The article contributes to a broader understanding of subject-specific skills. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kritisk tenkning og Minecraft i lærer-utdanningen: en studie av samfunnsfag-undervisning om det industrielle gjennombruddet i Norge T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eie, Siv A1 - Andersen, Renate A1 - Mifsud, Louise A1 - Mørch, Anders A1 - Rustad, Mikkel PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 49 EP - 74 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - kritisk tenkning KW - historisk empati KW - samfunnsfag KW - minecraft KW - lӕrerutdanning KW - det industrielle gjennombruddet KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article discusses how Minecraft can be used as a learning resource in facilitating historical empathy and critical thinking in teaching social studies. Minecraft is a sandbox video game reminiscent of digital Lego, where the participants have unlimited access to resources that can be used as building blocks to create buildings and other structures. In the virtual Minecraft world, players can build visual structures and interact through avatars. In our study, three cohorts of student teachers tried out Minecraft Education (version adapted for educational use) when they reconstructed buildings and historical events taking place during the industrial breakthrough along the Aker River. The project was divided into three phases: (1) introductory phase where students worked with the historical context through campus teaching, historical sources, and excursion, (2) reconstruction phase where students recreated the factory buildings in Minecraft and developed scripts for the digital role-play and (3) transformation phase, where the students used what they had developed (buildings and script) to produce a film to enact a historical event. In planning the project, historical empathy was emphasized, however, the article focuses on how working with historical empathy through Minecraft also facilitates critical thinking. That is making judgements while working with sources, taking different historical perspectives in reconstructing historical events and artifacts, and critically reflecting on connections between past and present.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Schools, Democratic Socialization and Political Participation: Political Activity and Passivity among Swedish Youths T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ekman, Joakim PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - political participation KW - civic engagement KW - civic education KW - political passivity KW - school socialization AB - The present text is based on a key note lecture (‘Civic Education, Democracy and Political Participation’) delivered at the symposium Globalization of School Subjects – Challenges for Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education, Karlstad University, 13–14 December, 2012. Drawing on recent developments in research on political participation and civic engagement, the text starts out with a discussion about different ways of understanding political passivity. Subsequently, the text turns to a brief analysis of ways in which schools may provide young people with political skills and competencies needed in a democratic society. Three dimensions of political citizenship are highlighted: political efficacy, political literacy, and political participation; and the analysis focuses on the impact of a number of different school-related factors on these three ‘citizenship competencies’. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Schools, Democratic Socialization and Political Participation: Political Activity and Passivity among Swedish Youths T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ekman, Joakim PY - 2013 VL - 1 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 11 LA - eng ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vilka är förutsättningarna i svensk grundskola för en interkulturell historieundervisning? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eliasson, Per A1 - Nordgren, Kenneth PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 47 EP - 68 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - intercultural education KW - survey KW - teachers AB - This is the first major quantitative study of how teachers at the compulsory school look at the subject of History and its conditions. The article focuses on elements of the survey related to the content of teaching and how teachers perceive the conditions for the intercultural mission of the subject. The historical content in the form of selected time periods and geographic focus forms a clear canon: in grades 1–3 local history and Swedish history, in 4–6 Swedish and Nordic history, and in 7–9 Western European history with global, but mainly Eurocentric, outlooks. In terms of students’ skills to interpret history they encounter the result is to some extent contradictory. Empathy and critical thinking are highly valued but the actual work to develop these abilities is of lesser importance. Instead, storytelling is stressed as the major form of education. Teachers in grades 7–9 emphasize that long lines of development are important in their teaching. History’s orienting function leans more to the future and contemporary perspectives in grades 7–9, while students’ perspective on their own historical background ranked highest in 1–3 and 4–6. Future and contemporary issues are highlighted as a pattern in which racism and xenophobia become more important in higher grades while environmental issues decrease in importance. Multiculturalism and diversity issues occupy an intermediate position in this context but are perceived as important by teachers on all levels. An overall conclusion is that in the tension that exists between the traditions of the subject and an external pressure for change teachers need support to deal with the intercultural perspective. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vilka är förutsättningarna i svensk grundskola för en interkulturell historieundervisning? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eliasson, Per A1 - Nordgren, Kenneth PY - 2017 VL - 2 IS - 2016 SP - 47 EP - 68 LA - swe PB - : CSD, Karlstad University AB - This is the first major quantitative study of how teachers at the compulsory school look at the subject of History and its conditions. The article focuses on elements of the survey related to the content of teaching and how teachers perceive the conditions for the intercultural mission of the subject. The historical content in the form of selected time periods and geographic focus forms a clear canon: in grades 1–3 local history and Swedish history, in 4–6 Swedish and Nordic history, and in 7–9 Western European history with global, but mainly Eurocentric, outlooks. In terms of students’ skills to interpret history they encounter the result is to some extent contradictory. Empathy and critical thinking are highly valued but the actual work to develop these abilities is of lesser importance. Instead, storytelling is stressed as the major form of education. Teachers in grades 7–9 emphasize that long lines of development are important in their teaching. History’s orienting function leans more to the future and contemporary perspectives in grades 7–9, while students’ perspective on their own historical background ranked highest in 1–3 and 4–6. Future and contemporary issues are highlighted as a pattern in which racism and xenophobia become more important in higher grades while environmental issues decrease in importance. Multiculturalism and diversity issues occupy an intermediate position in this context but are perceived as important by teachers on all levels. An overall conclusion is that in the tension that exists between the traditions of the subject and an external pressure for change teachers need support to deal with the intercultural perspective. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ”Nu känns det lite verkligare när man har träffat en som varit med om det”. Svenska elevers förståelser av en Förintelseöverlevandes berättelse T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Engren, Jimmy PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 25 EP - 49 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical significance KW - historical thinking KW - history education KW - national historieundervisning KW - historiskt berättande KW - folkmord KW - förintelsen KW - förintelseöverlevande KW - historiemedvetande KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The purpose of this study is to analyze how Swedish students in year 9 perceives of, relates to and makes meaning of the historical narrative of a Holocaust survivor. The material used consist of letters written to the survivor Ilona Enqvist after her presentations in Swedish schools during the mid-1990s. The main conclusion is that the life story of a survivor quite effectively engages students in general questions on basic human rights, morals and ethics. The students also stress that the story´s authenticity and its individual perspective offers important insights. On the other hand, the study also shows how the presentation falls short of getting students to understand the historical dimension of the narrative and the historical context. It shows the need for teaching that emphasizes the historical perspective and that, through historization, can potentially qualify the process of meaning making. The study highlights the importance of the presentation to the students. It also gives a hint on the importance of the contribution made by Holocaust survivors in offering Swedish students unique and deeply engaging perspectives on the Holocaust that offers opportunities for teachers to conduct value-based history teaching.    ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Literacy in Non-Confessional Religious Education and Religious Studies in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Enstedt, Daniel PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 27 EP - 48 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious literacy KW - curriculum studies KW - religious education KW - lived religion KW - critical religion KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The guidelines for religious literacy of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) argue for a generic understanding of religion as internally diverse, historically dynamic, and embedded in cultures. However, analysis reveals that religious education curriculums in Sweden tend to emphasise religious literacy as a means to diminish prejudice and conflict. Religious education (RE) is seen as giving students the ability to live in an increasingly multi-religious and multi-cultural world. In this paper I argue that fostering religious literacy at all levels of education requires curriculums that include the central elements of the AAR guidelines and adopt a more critical stance towards the concepts ‘world religion’ and ‘religion’. I question the place of ‘ethics’ in RE and religious studies, especially as ethical models, since this blurs the boundaries between religious and moral education. Ethical models are better suited to the upper secondary school courses in philosophy. The idea of progression from the concrete to the abstract elements of religion must also be challenged. To be able to achieve the goals stipulated in the curriculums, and to avoid reproducing wrong understandings of religiosity, the school subject RE should be more closely embedded in contemporary research. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - (Tapte) muligheter for kritisk tenkning: Post- og dekoloniale perspektiver i samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eriksen, Kristin A1 - Jore, Mari Kristine PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 135 EP - 158 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - critical thinking KW - social studies education KW - postcolonial KW - decolonial KW - coloniality KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In this article, we explore what opportunities post- and decolonial perspectives may provide for critical thinking in social studies education. Post- and decolonial perspectives include a broad variety of theoretical approaches emphasizing the interrelations between coloniality, knowledge, and power. Previous research on social studies education has revealed a common ignorance of Norway`s colonial legacy as well as current reproduction of racism. We discuss what analyses of coloniality may contribute to social studies education, didactically and theoretically. The article is methodologically inspired by the notion of the «telling case». We apply theory to make previously obscure analytical relations apparent. The empirical examples analyzed are derived from fieldwork in classroom at levels 5-10. The cases represent starting points to discussing how opportunities for critical thinking about society may be lost through the lack of acknowledgement of colonial structures. We argue that post- and decolonial perspectives highlight epistemic diversity and ambivalence and provide opportunities for creative thinking about society that may spur hope for the future.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historiefagets forhold till redegörelse T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eskelund Knudsen, Heidi PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 47 EP - 63 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - narrative as knowledge transfer and knowledge construction KW - history teaching KW - history as a subject matter KW - history didactics AB - The article focuses the concept of narrative (redegørelse) as it appears in teachers’ and students’ utterances in and about history as a subject matter. The main finding of the article concerns the observation that narrative on the one hand reflects a dichotomy between narrative understood as both knowledge transfer and knowledge construction. On the other hand, since history teaching is organized and regulated through ideas of cognitive taxonomy thinking and progression, narrative gets evaluated and assessed as knowledge transfer only. The article discusses the fact that narrative as knowledge construction appears in the way teachers and students reflect on subject issues meanwhile the transferring of a grand and common narrative occupy a great deal of the history teaching. In the light of a postmodern perspective, the article draws the conclusion that history as a subject matter can gain from considering its approach to narrative as knowledge construction.The findings of the article rely on thorough and in-depth analysis of teachers’ and students’ utterances transformed into speech act codes established during ethnographic field-studies in Danish upper secondary schools. In supporting the study, theorists such as J.L. Austins, Ole Togeby, Kathy Charmaz and Peter Seixas have all been helpful. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Viden mellem elev og fag – historieundervisning som dynamisk kommunikation T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eskelund Knudsen, Heidi PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 45 EP - 64 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history didactics KW - conceptions of knowledge KW - history teaching KW - student versus subject matter KW - teaching as communication KW - systems theory KW - episodic and semantic memory AB - The article puts a fundamental focus on conceptions of knowledge in relation to history as a school subject. And in particularly the conceptions as they are reflected and expressed through history teaching and attempts to establish relations between the student and the subject matter i.e. the disciplinary basis and origin of history as school subject. The article takes a theoretical position on a problem in history teaching practice. The problem concerns an often seen accentuation of the student as a basic didactical concern in history teaching when it comes to learning subject oriented content. The article questions this approach by emphasising the important and central role that teaching plays regarding communication processes between the student and the subject. The article argues that the teaching situation regarded as communication has the ability to create links and connect between the student and the subject matter due to the fact that teaching and learning represent fundamentally different systems existing next to each other yet disconnected in teaching situations. A didactical analysis which is focusing solely on the student when discussing history teaching issues risks discussing an aspect of teaching to which there is no access. The article therefore examines how links and connections between the student and the subject matter might become possible if teaching regarded as a communication situation is aware of distinguishing between pieces of information, how this information is communicated, received and understood. An important aspect of this, concerns to what extent the process is influencing episodic or semantic student knowledge. The theoretical approach that supports the article discussion is based on concepts from systems theory and cognitive psychology. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exempel-vis. Det oväntade och föreställningar om religionskunskapslärares professionella kunnande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Falkevall, Björn PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 44 EP - 58 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - exempel-vis. det oväntade och föreställningar om religionskunskapslärares professionella kunnande KW - religious studies and theology KW - utbildning och lärande AB - The article is a critical interpretation of different perceptions of teacher’s professional knowledge as it is implicit in evidence based studies and Learnings Studies, two common ways of grounding the professional knowledge in educational science and in school politics today and therefore studied in teacher education. These two perceptions are analyzed with two metaphors from a research overview by Clandinin & Clandinin, called the conduit metaphor and teacher as curriculum maker. Strengths and shortcomings are pointed out. Especially in relation to unexpected events in teaching situations. A third perception of teacher’s professional knowledge is introduced and labelled teacher as jazz musician and the professional knowledge is viewed as improvisation. Based on the assumption from Gudmundsdottir experienced teachers have developed a curriculum story that helps them to improvisator – the re-active dimension of teaching. The two later perceptions are used in discussing three cases from students teaching. The thesis advocated is that the metaphor jazz - improvisation gives wider focus on RE as a school subject with content and meaning than the other two. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samma konflikter men olika inramning: Kontroversiella frågor relaterade till Mellanösternkonflikterna i religionskunskap och samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Flensner, Karin K PY - 2019 VL - 3 SP - 73 EP - 100 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - social studies KW - controversial issues KW - conflicts classroom observation KW - educational science KW - subject-specific education AB - The conflicts in the Middle East are not confined to a geographical area but have both a global and a local dimension. International conflicts, crises and acts of terrorism have consequences in the classroom practice, partly because current events are part of the content in social studies subjects, but partly because an increasing number of pupils have personal experiences and/or personal views on different aspects of these conflicts, also in relation to nationalist, xenophobic, antisemitic and islamophobic discourses. The overall aim of this paper is to investigate and compare how the Middle Eastern conflicts and related topics are raised within Religious Education and Social Studies. Are there differences in content and ways of talking in Religious Education compared to Social Studies and, if so, how? What implications have different subject framings for discourses and perspectives and hence, what becomes possible to learn? The study is based on participatory classroom observations of Religious Education and Social Studies at Swedish upper secondary schools. Interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with pupils have been conducted. The analyses indicate that migration, terrorism, anti-semitism, and islamophobia were major themes raised in relation to the conflicts in both subjects. The experiences of pupils largely affected classroom discourse. However, there were differences between how the conflicts were framed and discussed. In Religious Education, it was more common for teachers to downplay conflict perspectives and emphasize empathy, similarities and existential features while in Social Studies there was greater focus on formal ways of dealing with conflicts in terms of regulations and institutions.   ER - TY - GEN T1 - Forskning om nationella prov i samhällsorienterande ämnen – några aktuella exempel T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 PY - 2026 VL - 2025 IS - 15 EP - 2 LA - swe KW - nationella prov KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - interkulturell kompetens KW - prov och betygssättning KW - fakta- och begreppskunskap som procedural kunskap KW - likvärdighet AB - Nationella prov i samhällsorienterande ämnen genomfördes i Sverige för första gången 2013. Sedan dess har proven varit föremål för återkommande synpunkter, frågor och diskussioner – från lärare och elever såväl som från debattörer med intresse för skolfrågor. Proven har dock inte enbart debatterats offentligt, utan har också analyserats inom ramen för vetenskaplig forskning. I samband med att tio år förflutit sedan de första nationella proven i samhällsorienterande ämnen genomfördes, arrangerade Göteborgs universitet i november 2023 en konferens med fokus på den forskning som gjorts i anslutning till proven. I samband med att konferensen i Göteborg genomfördes initierades idén att publicera ett temanummer som kunde ge utrymme för ytterligare forskning relaterat till proven. Fyra artiklar som presenterar sådan forskning ingår i detta temanummer av Nordidactica. Medverkande forskare är Markus Al-Alfifi (artikel 1), Andreas Alm-Fjellborg (artikel 2), David Rosenlund, Johan Deltner, Mikael Bruér, Magnus Persson (artikel 3), samt Daniel Bergh och Arne Löfstedt (artikel 4). ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2017:4 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2017 VL - 2017 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2018:4 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2018 VL - 2018 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Gränsöverskridande värden i icke konfessionell etikundervisning: ämnesidentitet och multidisciplinärt lärande i ämnet religionskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 188 EP - 211 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religionskunskap KW - multidisciplinaritet KW - etisk kompetens KW - religious studies and theology AB - Traditionally religious education (RE), in a Swedish context, includes ethics education. The syllabus of the subject included in the latest school reform for compulsory school (Lgr11) present clear and detailed prescriptions regarding ethical issues which have to be taught. At the same time there could, in the national policy documents, be found explicit regulations that the teaching of ethics, like many other areas, should not be restricted to RE. Pedagogical integration is recommended. A multidisciplinary ethics education can be motivated in many ways, pedagogically as well as with reference to subject considerations. Such an education gives rise to challenging questions concerning which contributions RE may be supposed to develop in relation to school´s comprehensive teaching in ethics. More precisely, there seems to be a need to identify and explain how these contributions are to be apprehended and interpreted within the context of RE, but also in relation to other subjects. In this article the core content of the new syllabus in RE is discussed methodologically as well as with reference to subject considerations. A few ethical profiles characteristic of the subjects of social sciences are presented. Some important challenges regarding the need for specifying the meaning of the concept of ethics, interpreted within the context of RE, are elaborated. One issue that is highlighted concerns to what extent non confessional RE may create specified and constructive contributions to a multidisciplinary ethics education. In relation to the focusing of this theme, a critical discussion regarding an essentialistic interpretation of the relation between ethics and religion within RE is carried out. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religionslärande som bildningsresa: En kommentar till reviderad kursplan i religionskunskap i Sverige T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2021 VL - 2021 SP - 96 EP - 120 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - reviderad kursplan i religionskunskap KW - ett vidgat religionskunskapsbegrepp KW - postsekulär religionsundervisning KW - bildning KW - multidimensionell kunskap KW - subject-specific education AB - I den här artikeln diskuteras förutsättningarna för ett vidgat religionskunskapsbegrepp med referens till den reviderade kursplan i religionskunskap som i Sverige ska gälla från och med hösten 2022. Trots att en diskurs där syfte, centralt innehåll och kunskapskrav också fortsättningsvis gestaltar ett snävt kunskapsbegrepp och ger uttryck för en ideologi där bedömning och betyg fungerar som hegemoniska parametrar, finns, hävdas det i artikeln, i den reviderade kursplanen i religionskunskap, indikationer på en breddning och en fördjupning när det gäller vad undervisning om religioner ska handla om. Dessa indikationer analyseras med hänsyn till hur begreppet bildning kan resas i relation till utbildning och undervisning. Inte minst uppmärksammas begreppet förtrogenhetskunskap som en multidimensionell kunskapsform i religionsundervisning. Så uppfattad syns denna undervisning ligga väl i linje med en postsekulär ansats till att närma sig frågor om religion, kunskap, mening och sanning. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Worldviews and Big Ideas: A Way Forward for Religious Education? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Freathy, Rob A1 - John, Helen C. PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - worldviews KW - big ideas KW - commission on religious education AB - This article explores the position of ‘worldviews’ in Religious Education, using England as a particular case study to illustrate contemporary international debates about the future of Religious Education (or equivalent subjects). The final report of the Commission on Religious Education (CoRE 2018) – which recommended that the subject name in England be changed from ‘Religious Education’ to ‘Religion and Worldviews’ – provides a stimulus for a discussion about the future of the study of religion(s) and worldview(s) in schools. The article offers a review of, and reflections on, the worldviews issue as treated in academic literature relating to Religious Education, before noting the challenges that the incorporation of worldviews presents. The article goes on to suggest ways in which a ‘Big Ideas’ approach to the study of religion(s) and worldview(s) (Wiggins and McTighe 1998; Wintersgill 2017; Freathy and John 2019) might provide criteria by which worldviews are selected for curriculum content. Finally, the article discusses what the implications of these recommendations might be for ‘Religion and Worldviews’ teachers and teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Teaching historical thinking and reasoning in upper secondary schools in Iceland: results of an observation study T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gestsdóttir, Súsanna Margrét A1 - van Drie, Jannet A1 - van Boxtel, Carla PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 90 EP - 113 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - historical thinking KW - classroom observation AB - This study aims to describe the teaching of historical thinking and reasoning in upper secondary education in Iceland and to what extent teachers teach for these higher order thinking skills in their daily practice. We used the observation instrument, Teach-HTR, to rate 54 history lessons. It is now apparent that some form of HTR is present in nearly all of them. Nearly all included teacher’s demonstration of historical thinking and reasoning and teachers also engaged students in individual or group assignments that asked for various HTR activities. However, it does not seem to be built upon in a strategic manner and certain areas are almost completely left out. The vocabulary of HTR is not deliberately used, which indicates that teachers may be drawing more from their education as historians than as history teachers. This study may provide important indicators for professional development that can be of use in teacher training and professionalization. With the help of the instrument Teach-HTR and the literature it should be possible to design a program that helps teachers focus on basic components of historical thinking and reasoning and specific behaviour, discourse and activities that bring it forward. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vägar att lära om stadslandskapet i geografiämnet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gottfridsson, Hans Olof PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 204 EP - 227 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geografi KW - stad KW - fältstudier KW - geography KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Most people in the world today live their lives in an urban environment. The urban landscape has therefore become our everyday landscape, and life in the city is perceived as normative for the good life in many contexts. Because of this, there is an increasing need to focus on learning about the urban landscape in schools, not least in the school subject of geography. In summary, the article has the ambition to combine ideas from geography with ideas from spatial and social planning and thus suggest new ways to learn about the urban landscape within the framework of the Swedish curriculum for geography in the compulsory and upper secondary school. In these cases, the article gives direct examples of how different dimensions of the city can be understood in a learning situation, what different ways of learning about these can look like, and what educational/pedagogical tools for learning about them can be used. The article also emphasises the special suitability of the geography subject when it comes to teaching young people about key future issues such as sustainable development, in this case linked to the urban landscape. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fakta, normativitet eller pluralism? - Didaktiska typologier inom gymnasieskolans geografiundervisning om klimatförändringar: Recension av Per Sund T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Grahn, Andreas PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 77 EP - 79 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads universitet KW - geography KW - geografi KW - geo-science ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Education for sustainable development and narratives of Nordic exceptionalism: The contributions of decolonialism T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gregers Eriksen, Kristin PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 21 EP - 42 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - sustainable development KW - social studies KW - decolonial KW - narrative KW - nordic exceptionalism KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper argues that approaches embedded in technology optimism hold a hegemonic stance in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Norway. A monolithic focus on technology also leads to a lack of emphasis on the possible contributions of Social Studies. Although sustainable development is commonly understood as having the global goal of “saving the planet,” ESD remains situated within a colonial epistemological regime. In spite of its good intentions, ESD may in fact contribute to the construction and reproduction of differences between “Us” and “Them,” denoting the Global North and South. The aim of this paper is to explore the contributions of decolonial perspectives in providing possible interruptions of the hegemonic narratives, and fostering transformation. The paper exemplifies how current practices of ESD can serve to sustain rather than change the global economic and political systems. It is argued that decolonial perspectives can be tools for disrupting mainstream ESD. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Epistemic beliefs and knowledge creation among upper-secondary students in transdisciplinary education for sustainable development T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Grice, Marie PY - 2014 VL - 1 SP - 146 EP - 169 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - epistemic beliefs KW - transdisciplinarity KW - sustainable development AB - This study examines the epistemic beliefs of upper-secondary school students (n=208) involved in a transdisciplinary project regarding sustainable development. Specifically the dimensions of knowledge and knowing are explored and interpreted through a questionnaire, the Survey of Epistemological Beliefs in Transdisciplinary Education (SEBTE). A three-dimensional framework underpins the self-report paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Results from exploratory factor analysis suggest five factors or dimensions: Transdisciplinary knowledge, Quick knowledge, Certain knowledge, Simple knowledge and Collaborative knowledge. According to multiple regression analysis (MRA), three out of those dimensions of epistemic beliefs have a positive impact on the students’ appreciation of the school project. Variables male and technoscientific students had a negative impact. The educational context of transdisciplinary education for sustainable development can be understood in terms of the learning metaphor of knowledge creation. Knowledge about students’ epistemic beliefs is assumed to be a useful insight to both in-service and pre-service teachers embarking on transdisciplinary projects. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Recension av Pontus Hennerdals doktorsavhandling Education Through Maps. The Challenges of Knowing and Understanding the World T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Grubbström, Ann PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 45 EP - 48 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historieundervisning och historiebruk i en språklig minoritetskontext. Identitetsformande undervisning i minoritetsskolor i Danmark, Tyskland och Finland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gullberg, Tom PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 34 EP - 52 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - minority schools KW - history education KW - identity formation KW - languages KW - use of history AB - History Teaching and the Use of History in a Linguistic Minority Context. Minority Schools in Denmark, Germany and Finland as a Field of Research on Education for Identity ConstructionApart from subject knowledge and historical thinking skills, didactical theories generally consider identity as an important issue for history education. The article discusses history teaching and its function in identity construction in schools for language minority groups. It focuses on identity formation processes in three kinds of minority schools: upper secondary schools for the German minority in Southern Denmark, upper secondary schools for the Danish minority in the Northern part of Germany, and upper secondary schools for the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. The content and the educational aims of the school subject history are compared in these minority school systems and conclusions are drawn in relation to a theoretical model of the use of history. It is concluded that history is used in a political-educational and existential way in the Danish minority schools, with a strong focus on minority issues, while the German minority schools have a more neutral and "Danish" approach to German history in Denmark, with some elements of non-use of history (i.e. discreet treatment of the German occupation during the WW II). As Swedish is equal to Finnish as a national language, the Swedish schools in Finland could be expected to have the same approach in history teaching as the Finnish schools – the curriculum has the same content and aims in both cases – but there is an explicit ambition in the Swedish schools to use history in a more existential and ideological way in relation to Finland’s shared history with Sweden. The comparison of history teaching in minority schools turned out to improve the didactical understanding of the use of history in history teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Friendship, diversity and fear. Young people´s life views and life values in a multicultural society T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gunnarsson, Gunnar J. A1 - Finnbogason, Gunnar E. A1 - Ragnarsdóttir, Hanna A1 - Jónsdóttir, Halla PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 94 EP - 113 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - young people KW - life views KW - life values KW - frienship KW - fear KW - diversity KW - multicultural society KW - religious studies and theology AB - This article introduces initial findings from a study on young people‘s (18 years and older) life views and life values in Iceland. The research project is located within a broad theoretical framework and uses interdisciplinary approaches of religious education, multicultural studies and pedagogy. Methodological approaches are both quantitative and qualitative. The first part of the research is a survey which was conducted among altogether 904 students in seven upper secondary schools in the Reykjavík area and other areas of Iceland in 2011 and 2012. In addition to covering measures of background variables and religious affiliations, statements in the survey included themes such as views of life, self-understanding, relation to others, values and value judgments, religions, and diversity and social change. The article focuses especially on findings from the survey related to friendship, attitudes towards diversity, fear and insecurity in a multicultural society. The findings indicate that the participants generally have positive attitudes towards diversity. The majority of participants find it inspiring to have friends of different origins and find it important to respect different cultural and religious traditions. The majority of participants also have strong opinions against racism and bullying. Friends are important and most of the participants are of the opinion that friends are one of the things that provide security. At the same time only a minority is afraid of being unpopular, losing the confidence of their friends or being bullied. But when the fear is about disgracing oneself or about not being able to meet the requirements at school the proportion is higher. Although economic crisis in Iceland seems to have an effect on the life of the young people answering the survey, most of them are of the opinion that the future holds a lot of opportunities. The results are useful for further discussions on young people´s life views, self-understanding, and social and moral competence, for example in school context and in connection with subjects like Social Studies, Religious Education, Life Skills Education and Intercultural Education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - From religious homogeneity to secularization, diversity and pluralism T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Gunnarsson, Gunnar J PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 26 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - secularization KW - religious diversity KW - pluralism KW - multicultural education KW - research in iceland KW - religious studies and theology AB - In the article three Icelandic research projects are examined, two doctoral theses and one master’s thesis, with a view to mapping the knowledge that those projects have created while also considering what knowledge is lacking in the field of research in religious education in Iceland. The selected projects are chosen on the basis of their focus on religious education at schools, and they are examined from the perspective of what knowledge they have provided and what conclusions can be drown from their results about the status and role of religious education in compulsory schools in Iceland. Research in the field of religious education in Iceland has been rather limited, and the question arises, what knowledge is available in that area in the country? All three projects reflect the development of Icelandic society from being relatively homogeneous in religious matters to growing secularization and increasing religious diversity and pluralism. Although their objectives are different, they clearly show how the development of the society affects emphases in the school’s religious education. Therefore their results and discussion provide a foundation of knowledge on religious education in compulsory schools in Iceland or other multicultural societies. In the first projects the historical development in Iceland is described and compared with the development in the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and it effectively creates the background for the other projects. The development of Christian and religious education in Iceland is shaped by the development of the society. In the two other research projects the conclusion is that religious education must take into account the increasing diversity and put the students and their diverse experiences in focus. The emphasis is placed on the idea that the approach to religious education needs to be multicultural, precisely because there are students in the schools with different cultural and religious backgrounds and experiences. It is necessary to take this into account, since factors such as family, home and school affect each other. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Action research and development work in religion and world view education – comparing communities of practice and cooperative networks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haakedal, Elisabet PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 47 EP - 73 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - action research in religion(s) and world view(s) education / religious education KW - interactivity between research and development work in communities of practice and cooperative networks KW - religious studies and theology AB - In this article two cases of action research in religion and world view education are compared. A third, smaller case, in which the author has been involved, is referred to initially and in the final discussion in order to enrich the comparison. Three clusters of themes are compared: 1) the institutional basis, economic resources, leadership and administration of the research projects, 2) the development of, references to and use of didactic approaches / pedagogical models, and 3) research design and methods. Methodologically the comparison is based on a combination of empathetic and critical hermeneutics. Theoretically, ideas of interactive and/or action research, learning and development work are preferred to ideas separating academic systematic research practice from the practical knowledge and mastering of pedagogical methods. It is argued that interactive work promoting proximity of practices, i.e. seeking to create a bridging and complementing mutuality between the sub-communities of primary and secondary education on the one hand and the sub-communities of tertiary education and research on the other, is the best way forward. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Classroom Studies on Religious Education – A Variety of Approaches. A review of Mette Buchardt 2014 Pedagogized Muslimness. Religion and Culture as Identity Politics in the Classroom T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haakedal, Elisabet PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 169 EP - 171 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious studies and theology ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Practical Theology – Relevant for Multicultural Religion and World View Education? A review of John M. Hull. 2014. Towards the Prophetic Church. A Study of Christian Mission T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haakedal, Elisabet PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 166 EP - 168 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious studies and theology ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historielærernes erindrings- og identitetspolitik: Monokulturel, flerkulturel og/eller demokratisk? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haas, Claus PY - 2015 VL - 3 SP - 83 EP - 101 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - curriculum KW - politics of memory and identity AB - History Teachers’ Politics of Memory and Identity: Monocultural, Multicultural and/or Democratic?In 2009 the Danish state implemented a history canon as a mandatory part of the history curriculum of the Danish Folkeskole. It has been highly disputed as to what kind of politics of memory and identity this initiative was representing and meant to advance. Just beneath the surface of this question another one is lurking: What kind of society are history teachers supposed to prepare students to live in? Is it a monocultural society, a multicultural society, or a democratic society? I answer these questions by drawing on two sets of data: data from a survey among history teachers in the Danish Folkeskole, and data from qualitative semi-structured interviews. The answers and conclusion are far from clear-cut. History teaching in the Danish Folkeskole seems to be flawed by paradoxes, inconsistencies, and contradictions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lægpersoners historiebrug i hverdagslivets populær- og historiekultur. En historiedidaktisk udfordring T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haas, Claus PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 36 EP - 55 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - uses of history KW - historical culture KW - history of concepts KW - laypersons KW - history didactics AB - History teachers – and researchers of history didactics – confront a still more pressing challenge: How are they supposed to cope with the fact that for the most important part, laypeople’s uses of history, and production of historical consciousness, are to be found outside school and other disciplinary uses of history? While the latter often struggle for attention and relevance among our students, uses of history within the popular and history culture of everyday life thrive more than ever -  in TV-series, films, reenactments, family genealogy, and so forth. Should history teachers, and researchers of history didactics to a predominantly degree ignore this fact? Should it be regarded it as an appendix to more traditional disciplinary uses of history, and official national narratives? Alternatively, could or should it rather be considered as constituting the pivotal point for future history teaching in schools, and research of history didactics? In order to discuss these and related questions, I believe we still require more empirically embedded examples, which highlight what seems to incite the uses of history among laypeople? What characterizes laypeople’s uses of history within the popular culture of everyday life? Consecutively, which criteria of relevance are at stake? In this article, I look for answers as laypeople use and interpret so-called n-words, like ‘neger’ and ‘nigger’ within Danish popular culture of the 2000s. Here we gain some insight into the personal and intimate uses of history among laypeople, embedded in emotional and contested issues concerning racism in African-Danes’ life stories on Facebook, postcolonial therapy of a ‘brown’ Danish satirist, and the longing for a ‘neger’ identity in Danish hip-hop.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Om historie- og samfundsfagsdidaktisk eklekticisme. Med Grundtvigs folkebegreb som eksempel T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haas, Claus PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 168 EP - 190 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history and social science education KW - didactical eclecticism KW - cultural turn KW - imagined community KW - grundtvig and folkeligheden KW - politics of memory and identity KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In many instances, developing comparative approaches to single subject didactic is a progressive way forward in order to escape rigid boundaries between related subjects. However, even so, a comparative approach still run the risk of reproducing and confirming sectorization of subject boundaries, which in my view ought to be transcended. A more radical way of exceeding single subject boundaries, is to ask: Should a comparative approach be complemented and challenged by subject didactics eclecticism? I argue in favor of the latter approach, with the school subjects history and civics as the main case. I do so, first by exploring arguments for eclecticism among scholars, with the aim of positioning my approach to didactics of history and civics within the ‘cultural turn’ of the social- and human sciences. Secondly, I exemplify how an eclectic approach might look like in practice. The poem ‘Folkeligheden’, published 1848, by the Danish poet, priest and politician N. F. S. Grundtvig, serves as an outset for my empirical example within which eclecticism is useful and unavoidable. Finally, I present two related concepts – politics of memory and imagined communities – which contribute to further the cultural turn and eclecticism of history and civics didactics, needed in order to tackle pressing and intricate issues in late modern democratic societies.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historia som ämnesdisciplin och vardagsliv – ämnesdidaktiska utmaningar i ett flerkulturellt samhälle T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hammarlund, Karl Gunnar PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 1 EP - 18 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - historical consciousness KW - pluralism KW - moral dimensions in history AB - Even if an overwhelming majority of historians acknowledges that history can harbour a multitude of interpretations and thus a multitude of narratives of the past, history – as encountered by students from primary school to the first year at the university – more often than not takes the form of a single, coherent narrative marked by an almost inexorable determinism. Ever since the beginning of the 19th century, such public narratives have served as instruments for promoting a shared sense of (national) community, not least within the compulsory school system. In our time, in our pluralistic societies where the idea of a common past shared by all has become untenable, such public narratives also pose a dilemma that is both political and ethical: how can social coherence, inclusion, and integration be achieved if (a) community is dependent on a shared past while (b) no shared past can be found? In this article I suggest that a possible way of solving, or steering clear of, this dilemma is through a history education that strives to promote an understanding of history as interpretations, as (re-)constructions of narratives of the past. Such an understanding underlines the importance of being able to deconstruct already existing narratives. It will also elucidate history’s role in society, a role that consists not only of what history says about the past but also of what history does for shaping our perceptions of the present and the future. And, finally, it offers students the tools needed for evaluating and choosing among the many narratives of the past, picking those that may serve them as aids for temporal orientation in everyday life. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - «Vi … er på vei inn i en ny tidsalder der det i stor grad er kvinnekjønnet som setter premissene for samfunnsutviklingen» - en kritisk analyse av lærebøker i samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Handal, Marte PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 88 EP - 108 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - gender equality KW - textbooks KW - education KW - social studies KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Gender equality is percieved as a core value in the Norwegian society and is mentioned several times in the curriculum produced by The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. The Norwegian Education Act demands that all education are to promote gender equality. Research has found that this aim has had little focus in the school sector. Using a critical discursive approach, this study investigates how social studies textbooks deal with gender equality in a Norwegian upper secondary school context. Findings confirm previous studies that have found that gender equality is already achieved in Norway, but this article also point to findings that include an imbalance in gender representation in all textbooks and an inconsistancy when it comes to whether or not Norway has achieved gender equality.The material shows varying degrees of gender awareness, which has an impact on students. Also, all three textbooks mainly include gender equality in regards to gender roles, which is in line with the curriculum aims. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Response: On RE research in the Nordic countries – a few notes T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hartman, Sven PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 118 EP - 122 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - multidisciplinarity of re and re-research KW - history of re-research KW - religious studies and theology AB - Considering the complex nature of RE and the RE research the response suggests that RE pedagogy preferably should adopt a multidisciplinary approach in order to grasp the complexity of RE. Nobody can be an expert in every sector of the RE research field, but everyone can learn something from colleagues working with other problems and methods in the complex field of RE. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transformation of History textbooks from national monument to global agent T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Haue, Harry PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 80 EP - 89 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history text books KW - national and global history in education KW - german-danish relations KW - scleswig-holstein AB - It is my assumption that our way of understanding globalization in the last two decades has changed the subject matter of history. The focus has shifted from the regional and national to the global perspective. This is evident if we analyze German and Danish textbooks on history. This development and its consequences have only been vaguely reflected in the debates on history didactics. Perhaps we have accepted this development as unavoidable as it is often done in economic discourses? To my opinion it is an important matter to discuss in a context of history didactics: are we selling national history in order to accommodate to the new global standards? Or in a biblical sense: Selling our birthright for a mess of pottage - without reflections on the consequences? Or is focus on global development a didactical consequence of the-state-of-the-art of new modern historical consciousness? The question remains to be answered: have we gained or lost something? ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Chasing deliberation in the Social Science classroom. A study of deliberative quality in factual and controversial issues discussions T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Henau Teglbjærg, Jonas PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 1 EP - 38 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social science KW - deliberation KW - controversial issues KW - samhällskunskap KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - From the perspective of deliberative democracy, the normative appeal of classroom discussions hinges on the deliberative quality of the discussion process. To better understand in which circumstances discussion might approximate the ideals of deliberation, the present study investigated the deliberative quality of classroom discussion in three conditions: a factual issue condition, a controversial issue condition, and a scaffolded controversial issue condition. Video observations from a classroom intervention were used to assess how each condition affected the deliberative quality of discussion. To this end, 202 student utterances were identified and coded by use of the Stromer-Galley manual for measuring aspects of deliberation. Though the scaffolded controversial issue condition produced more argumentation, contestation, and engagement than the factual issue condition, the controversial issue conditions also opened the door to more inequality, exclusion, and chitchat. Further research is needed on how teachers can tackle these issues, when they ask their students to engage in the democratic practice of discussing controversial issues. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lärare blir till i talet om demokrati i SO-undervisning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Henriksson Persson, Anna A1 - Irisdotter Aldenmyr, Sara PY - 2017 VL - 2 SP - 75 EP - 99 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - social science teachers KW - middle school (age 10-12) KW - democratic education KW - subject positions KW - utbildning och lärande KW - education and learning KW - samhällskunskap AB - A central question for this article is how social sciences teachers in middle school (age 10-12) relate to and talk about school’s fundamental democratic values as crucial parts of the teachers' assignments. The article aims to provide insight into how the teachers thereby position and constitute themselves as social science teachers and how this is intimately connected to their didactical practise. Three social science teachers were interviewed and in the analysis various subject positions were identified. The results show that teachers are trying to balance between the subject content they are required to work with, and a democratic assignment which is often interpreted in terms of students’ influence and participation. The difficulties to fully carry out student participation in every day teaching evokes interpretations of the democratic assignment as a question of what general approaches a teacher should have towards students, and a general mission to empower and equip students for the future. These approaches are strongly influencing how the informants construct themselves as teachers. However, it is also shown that the subject content of social sciences to some extent may enforce the possibilities of achieving the aims of a democratic assignment, which strengthens the argument that both the process of becoming a teacher and the challenges of the democratic assignment need to be situated and further developed within the contexts of specific school subjects. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring students’ effort in social studies T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hesby Mathé, Nora A1 - Elstad, Eyvind PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 65 EP - 87 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - social studies KW - students´ effort KW - citizenship preparation KW - selfefficacy KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB -  Preparing young people for becoming responsible citizens is an important educational aim. The school subject of social studies contributes to this wider educational aim by focusing on knowledge, skills and values to support young people in developing their knowledgeable participation in democratic processes. As social studies combines a focus on knowledge and participation, students’ own effort is of vital importance. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors associated with students’ effort in upper-secondary social studies. The survey sample comprised 264 upper-secondary students (16 to 17 years old) from schools located in urban and rural areas in three Norwegian counties. Regression analysis was used to assess the strength of statistical associations between the dependent variable—students’ effort—and the hypothesised antecedents: students’ perceptions of citizenship preparation in social studies, students’ self-efficacy in social studies, students’ perceptions of the teacher’s expectations in social studies, students’ relational trust toward the teacher, gender and books in the home. Our findings show that all of these factors, except for teacher expectations and relational trust, were significantly related to students’ effort. The results are discussed, and implications for social studies and further research are outlined. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A geographical reading of Roland Barthes: A smartphone model for the interpretation of photographs in geography education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hilander, Markus PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 162 EP - 186 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - roland barthes KW - geography education KW - geographical hints KW - geographical vigilance KW - interpretation of photographs KW - semiotics KW - smartphone model KW - visual methodologies KW - geography KW - geografi AB - This article introduces a geographical reading of Roland Barthes’s Elements of Semiology, originally published in 1964. In his text, Barthes introduces the semiotic concepts of “language and speech,” “signifier and signified,” “syntagma and system,” and “denotation and connotation.” Upon these semiotic concepts, this article builds a method for interpreting photographs from the geographical point of view. In the field of geography, the interpretation of photographs is to some extent taken for granted, because geography as a discipline has always been visually oriented—especially thanks to the use of maps. However, geography has produced practically no systematic attempts to develop a visual theory. This article introduces—not a visual theory but rather—a “smartphone model” for the interpretation of photographs in geography education. Photographs taken in Taupo, New Zealand (2013) and in New York City, United States (2008) are used to exemplify Barthes’s theoretical concepts. However, it is not argued that geography students should know Barthes’s terminology, such as denotation and connotation. Instead, they should be aware of the ways in which these concepts affect the meaning-making processes. That is, the smartphone model brings together four fundamental aspects—visual elements, textual elements, framing, and application of geographical knowledge—that should be taken into account when interpreting photographs in geography lessons. This article integrates geography education, structuralist semiotics, and visual methodologies. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reading the geographical content of media images as part of young people’s geo-media skills T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hilander, Markus PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 69 EP - 92 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geo-media KW - geography education KW - interpretation of photos KW - media images KW - semiotics KW - visual literacy KW - geography KW - geografi AB - As a new set of skills, geo-media tools and resources are being introduced in the Finnish comprehensive school curriculum, although an explicit definition of ‘geo-media’ is not given. In the Finnish upper secondary school curriculum, geo-media is described with one sentence. In this article, the concept of geo-media is approached with online questionnaires introduced to Finnish and international experts on geography education and geo-media (n=6) and Finnish geography teachers (n=22). Both groups tend to perceive geo-media as digital sources used in geography education. Yet, teachers think that geo-media will not change their teaching practices. In the literature, geo-media refer to all media that carry georeferenced information. Therefore, this paper introduces three visions of how geo-media can be understood as a broader concept; that is, geographical media literacy skills. The first example is (1) a photograph of ‘Reverend Billy’ with which the value of geolocative information is studied with the semiotic procedure of a ‘commutation test.’ The second example is (2) an advertisement by Diesel, in which geographical stereotypes are questioned with a semiotic process of the ‘transfer of meanings.’ The third example, (3) a Finnish cartoon strip ‘Viivi & Wagner,’ highlights the role of global events when reading images from a geographical perspective. Although location plays a crucial role in all three of the examples, the experts and the teachers did not pay that much attention to the question of ‘where.’ In consequence, young people need to be competent in interpreting and evaluating the geographical content of visual re-presentations before producing geo-media presentations of their own. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Virtuella simuleringar som metod i ekonomisk kunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hilli, Charlotta PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 46 EP - 70 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies education KW - economical knowledge KW - simulation KW - virtual learning environments KW - economic education KW - education AB - Students often perceive economic concepts as abstract. Virtual simulations may enhance students’ conceptual knowledge by allowing them to interact with various objects while learning content. The aim of this study was to understand the role of cultural resources in virtual simulations in social studies. Data were collected through interviews with thirteen Finnish upper-secondary school students 17–18 years old who took three distance-learning social studies courses using simulations in Second Life. The results imply that symbolic and human mediators were important for promoting discourses on social studies among the participants. The simulations of course content encouraged the participants to perform a range of activities (e.g. reflecting and analysing discourses in social studies). However, it is unclear how well the students understood theoretical or macro-discourses on the economy. Although this sample was small, and the study was experimental in nature, the results suggest that human mediators who actively question and challenge students are important in virtual simulations. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Faglighed og skriftlighed: En projektbeskrivning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hobel, Peter A1 - Spanget Christensen, Torben PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 84 EP - 89 LA - dan ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Når innovation og fagligt samspil saetter fag under pres - fagdidaktisk kommunikation i det danske gymnasium efter reformen i 2005 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hobel, Peter PY - 2012 VL - 1 SP - 26 EP - 53 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - innovation KW - interdicsiplinarity KW - subject orientated didactics KW - challenge orientated didactics KW - discourse KW - fagligt samspil KW - tvaerfaglighed KW - fagdidaktik KW - udfordringsdidagtik KW - diskurs KW - subject didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - After the 2005 reform of the Danish gymnasium, ithas become a requirement that students are trained in interdisciplinarity andthat their innovative skills are developed. In the public discussion“innovation” has been embedded in two different discourses: a market orienteddiscourse and a citizenship oriented discourse. This study examines whether theschool subjects under this pressure develop and converge into one unifiedschool subject: a market orientated social science. This is examined through acase study of an interdisciplinarian course in the first year of the Danishgymnasium on Corporate Social Responsibility. The students first work with thistopic in the context of English, Social Science and Innovation, and then haveto advise a Danish concern about how to improve and develop the CSR-strategy ofone of its subsidiary companies in India.The data of the study are central documents from political level, from thelevel of the Ministry of Education, and from the course. These documents aretriangulated with interviews with teachers and students. The results of thestudy are based on a discourse analysis of these documents.The central finding of the study is that the different school subjects do notconverge into one market oriented school subject. The students do not limitthemselves to give instrumental and means-oriented advices to the concern abouthow they can use the CSR-strategy as a mean of increasing its profits. The teachers act in a paradigm of challenge oriented didactics. The teachersestablish a subject oriented and interdiscipline oriented didactical discussionabout how the school subjects in different ways can contribute to aprofessional debate about epochal core problems (in this undervisningsforløb:the enviroment and social inequality), and the students discuss how thesubsidiary company can contribute to the solution of these problems. They addthat these initiatives will benefit the company. Thus, through didacticalreflection and the planning and execution of a course the teachersre-contextualize the requirement about interdisciplinarity and innovation in away that has Bildungs-Potenzial ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Redaktionel introduktion til Nordidactica 13:2 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hobel, Peter A1 - Christensen, Torben Spanget PY - 2013 VL - 2 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - When the Entire World is pushed into the Classroom: Reflections on Communication, Interculturalism and Education and on Intercultural Education in the Danish Upper Secondary School T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hobel, Peter PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 227 EP - 252 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - danish upper secondary school KW - communicative action KW - intercultural communication KW - intercultural education KW - civic education KW - content integration KW - the knowledge construction process KW - personal authority KW - acting competence KW - discourse analysis KW - samhällskunskap AB - In this article intercultural education is discussed, cases from the Danish upper secondary school are analyzed, and some requirements for further development are proposed. First definitions of the concepts communication, communicative action, intercultural communication and intercultural education are given. Starting from these definitions it is argued that intercultural communication as well as intercultural education is possible. Then two cases are analyzed. Finally – in the Discussion – it is underlined that the students’ metareflection on the context dependence of the knowledge construction process is a pivotal precondition for successful intercultural education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Frågedriven undervisning för att organisera normativa kunskapspraktiker i SO-ämnena T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Holmberg, Ulrik A1 - Johansson, Patrik A1 - Britton, Thérèse H. A1 - Johansson, Maria A1 - Nordgren, Kenneth PY - 2022 VL - 4 SP - 124 EP - 153 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads universitet KW - inquiry KW - ämnesdidaktisk modell KW - didaktisk modell KW - enquiry KW - frågedriven undervisning KW - fdu KW - rekontextualisering KW - normativ kunskapspraktik KW - samhällskunskapsdidaktik KW - historiedidaktik KW - religionsdidaktik KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This is a mainly conceptual and argumentative article which presents a model for enquiry-based teaching (Swedish acronym FDU - frågedrivenundervisning). The purpose is to suggest and discuss how enquiry-based teaching can contribute to organising qualified subject teaching in history, religious education and social studies. This is dealt with through two sections. The first section presents a structure for enquiry-based teaching through tested teaching designs in the three subjects, and the second section discusses certain qualities of enquiry-based teaching that we argue should be maintained. Based on actual teaching and teachers' experiences of designing enquiry-based teaching, the article positions FDU as a subject didactic teaching model. Hordern's (2022) framework for normative knowledge practices forms the theoretical starting point for discussing FDU as a subject didactic model that can help teachers in designing, planning, implementing and evaluating qualified subject teaching.The article argues that FDU can be regarded as a normative knowledge practice that is characterised by the qualities of being enquiry-based, prospective, consistent, assessment-oriented, and continuous.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att låta det oväntade ge rum åt det oförväntade – möjligheter inom ramen för skolämnet samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Högberg, Sören PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 25 EP - 43 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - community involvement KW - social studies KW - teacher judgement KW - teaching KW - unexpected content KW - unforeseen events KW - samhällskunskap KW - utbildning och lärande AB - The aim of the article is to illuminate the opportunities for students in social studies to develop dispositions towards taking an active and responsible role in society when teachers are able to support the content of the subject to continuously come forward in an interactive, communicative and evolving process. Based on theoretical informed arguments the author claims that that the question of how the teaching process is carried out is deeply connected with these opportunities for creating meaningful pedagogical situations. Here, unforeseen events are discussed as desirable circumstances for engaging students in social issues. However, this also brings risk into the process since the content discussed and how it is discussed opens up for unexpected answers. These answers which become part of the course content, put the teacher in a position in which he or she needs to respond in one way or another. In such pedagogical situations, the moral dimension of teachers’ work becomes visible and obvious. The position is taken that risk is a crucial part of a teaching process in which one of the aims is for students to be and become active, responsible and engaged in social issues. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “Mundtlig eksamen er en kunst” – Danske gymnasieelever til mundtlig eksamen i fagene historie og engelsk T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Isager, Julie Marie PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 87 EP - 112 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - oral exam KW - assessment in education KW - rhetorical situation KW - fitting response KW - navigating KW - history education KW - english education KW - mundtlig eksamen KW - bedømmelse KW - retorisk situation KW - navigering KW - historie KW - engelsk AB - Danish and Norwegian high school students are assessed in oral examinations, delivering a presentation and a discussion with two teachers of the discipline, in order to graduate. Oral exams are high stakes since average grades determine entrance into higher education. In an ethnographically inspired case study, the article examines students’ perceptions of a good oral exam performance in History and English and how they navigate to deliver it. The article contributes to sparse research in oral exams and suggests a rhetorical framework to provide student formulation of a fitting oral response. Students must persuade the assessors that they should pass the exam. The analysis finds that students struggle to identify what constitutes a good exam performance and navigate analytically and explicitly to estimate what a fitting response is. Models of a good performance are indistinct in class, and even though this is not stated, it is essential to respect disciplinary boundaries. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Human Rights: A Core Element or Big Idea for RE? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jackson, Robert PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 109 EP - 132 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - human rights KW - religious education KW - religions KW - worldviews KW - interpretive approach KW - council of europe KW - dialogical liberalism AB - In this article, I refer to the changing political context in the West, noting the need for collaborative action in addressing issues of living together, despite differences of religion and worldview. Such collaborations need to operate within and beyond schools. Next, I affirm the value of ‘big ideas’ in offering principles for selecting curriculum material for RE, but noting that ‘human rights’ is not itself a ‘big idea’ (in the sense used by Barbara Wintersgill). I go on to review some arguments for studying religious and worldview diversity in public schools, noting the relevance of human rights and responsibilities to these. I relate the emergence of the interpretive approach to religious education and our research at Warwick to the discussion, noting human rights especially in relation to arguments for ‘inclusive’ RE based on an analysis of world society and with living in plural societies. I introduce the work of the Council of Europe focusing on the religious dimension of intercultural education, and trace the establishment of the European Wergeland Centre, summarising a project on religions and education which involved the publication of the book Signposts. The work of the Signposts International Research Network, in applying human rights principles in educational contexts, is discussed. In conclusion, I emphasise the need for researchers to collaborate with teachers in school-based research as important to promoting human rights. Such collaboration parallels group cohesion and improvisation in the performance of jazz music. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Presentation of a Council of Europe ProjectPolicy, Research and Practice for ‘Inclusive’ Religious Education – Swedish and Norwegian Translations of Signposts now available T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jackson, Robert PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 111 EP - 115 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious studies and theology ER - TY - JOUR T1 - En komplex historia. Lärares omformning, undervisningsmönster och strategier i historieundervisning på högstadiet: recension av David Ludvigsson T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jarhall, Jessica PY - 2012 VL - 1 SP - 80 EP - 82 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - subject didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Difficult knowledge og folkedrab i historieundervisningen i et elevperspektiv T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johannesen, Hildegunn PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 28 EP - 52 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - difficult knowledge KW - controversial KW - history didactics KW - historical narratives KW - genocide KW - holocaust education KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In history class, students are confronted with the lives and living conditions of people throughout the centuries, including crimes against people that are contrary to the students’ ethics and morals, such as genocide. During a history class on these subjects, students may not know how to cope emotionally and cognitively with this kind of knowledge or how to refer to it. This raises the question of how students establish a cognitive readiness that can help them create meaning with what seems meaningless. This article aims to examine how students work with cognitive and emotional processes about genocide, which, in research, is called difficult knowledge and what I have called controversial knowledge. I argue that aspects of difficult knowledge can also be perceived as controversial because it provokes and is inappropriate in relation to norms from a contemporary perspective. The article is based on classroom observations from two case studies on the subject ‘genocide’ in lower secondary schools in Denmark (7th to 9th grade). ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskap i den nya ämneslärarutbildningen: Samhällskunskapens innehåll och ämnesdidaktik vid 14 lärosäten i Sverige mellan 2009-2015 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johansson, Jörgen PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällskunskap KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - ämnesteori KW - vetenskaplig metodologi KW - normativ teori AB - Abstract: Syftet med artikeln är att analysera samhällskunskapsämnets innehåll i ämnes­lärarutbildningen vid lärosäten i Sverige. Avsikten är att analysera hur man vid olika lärosäten utformat ämnesinnehåll och ämnesdidaktisk integrering i kursplaner. Studien besvarar fyra frågor; I vilken omfattning det förekommer lärandemål i samhällskunskap om (1) faktuell kunskapsöverföring, vetenskaplig metodologi, granskande undersökningar; (2) normativt innehåll; (3) ämnesdiscipliner respektive flervetenskapliga tematiseringar samt (4) ämnesdidaktik. Kursplaner i samhällskunskap från 14 lärosäten har analyserats vid två tillfällen, 2009 och 2015, dvs. före och efter den senaste lärarutbildningsreformen i Sverige. Resultaten visar att det totala antalet lärandemål i samhällskunskapskurserna ökat med 21 % och att detta i hög grad betingas av att statsmakten lagt in fler lärandemål i examensförordningen jämfört med tidigare. Analysen visar (1) att inslagen av ämnesdidaktisk integrering ökat i kursplanerna, (2) att andelen flervetenskapliga tematiseringar minskat, (3) att mängden ämnesteoretiska lärandemål varit oförändrade men fått fler inslag av normativt färgade problemställningar samt (4) att inslagen av vetenskaplig metodologi varit oförändrade. Analysen av kursplanerna indikerar behov av ytterligare analys och ämnesdidaktisk forskning om samhällskunskapsämnet möjligheter gällande bl.a. tvärvetenskaplig integrering, vetenskaplig metodologi samt betydelsen av normativa ansatser. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskap i den nya ämneslärarutbildningen - samhällskunskapens innehåll vid 14 lärosäten i Sverige T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johansson, Jörgen PY - 2017 VL - 4 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Centrum för de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik (CDS), Karlstad universitet KW - samhällskunskap KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - ämnesteori KW - vetenskaplig metodologi KW - normativ teori AB - Syftet med artikeln är att analysera samhällskunskapsämnets innehåll i ämnes­lärarutbildningen vid lärosäten i Sverige. Avsikten är att analysera hur man vid olika lärosäten utformat ämnesinnehåll och ämnesdidaktisk integrering i kursplaner. Studien besvarar fyra frågor; I vilken omfattning det förekommer lärandemål i samhällskunskap om (1) faktuell kunskapsöverföring, vetenskaplig metodologi, granskande undersökningar; (2) normativt innehåll; (3) ämnesdiscipliner respektive flervetenskapliga tematiseringar samt (4) ämnesdidaktik. Kursplaner i samhällskunskap från 14 lärosäten har analyserats vid två tillfällen, 2009 och 2015, dvs. före och efter den senaste lärarutbildningsreformen i Sverige. Resultaten visar att det totala antalet lärandemål i samhällskunskapskurserna ökat med 21 % och att detta i hög grad betingas av att statsmakten lagt in fler lärandemål i examensförordningen jämfört med tidigare. Analysen visar (1) att inslagen av ämnesdidaktisk integrering ökat i kursplanerna, (2) att andelen flervetenskapliga tematiseringar minskat, (3) att mängden ämnesteoretiska lärandemål varit oförändrade men fått fler inslag av normativt färgade problemställningar samt (4) att inslagen av vetenskaplig metodologi varit oförändrade. Analysen av kursplanerna indikerar behov av ytterligare analys och ämnesdidaktisk forskning om samhällskunskapsämnet möjligheter gällande bl.a. tvärvetenskaplig integrering, vetenskaplig metodologi samt betydelsen av normativa ansatser. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att möta det förflutna i de historiska källorna. Ett utforskande av lärande och meningsskapande genom två källtolkningsuppgifter i historia T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johansson, Patrik PY - 2014 VL - 2 SP - 180 EP - 207 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - life-world KW - critical aspects KW - primary source analysis KW - primärkällor KW - källtolkning KW - historieundervisning KW - de estetiska KW - humanistiska och samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - humanities and social science education AB - The article uses a form of content focused conversation analysis to explore processes of learning and attributing meaning when upper secondary students work with two primary source assignments in history. Empirical data was collected through audio recordings of students’ collaborative work on the assignments, which consisted in analysing two primary sources in small groups. The article addresses one primary research question: what is characteristic for the processes of learning and meaning-making when students work with two source analysis assignments? As a first step, the students’ learning processes, understood as a change in participation in the learning activity, are described. As a second step, the article describes how the students’ construct meaning when working with the primary sources. The main results are descriptions of the students’ learning, and meaning-making, processes. Based on the analysis of the students’ conversations it is suggested that the temporal aspect is discerned in a contrastive process between the present and the past in terms of values, ideas and societal conditions. In relation to the human aspect the students experienced a difficult balancing act in contrasting their own perspective with the historical actor’s perspective. However, a successful strategy was to take on the role of hypothetical historical agents. Finally, in relation to the contextual aspect once the students were involved in a process of inquiry and reasoning they managed to discern subtexts of the sources in relation to the historical context. It is suggested that certain aspects of school culture might inhibit the students’ learning of primary source analysis, as they occasionally strive to find the "right answers" rather than engaging in interpretative work. One interesting finding was the vital role of the students’ life-world perspective in creating meaning while working with the primary sources, and it is suggested that this perspective should be regarded in educational design. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historical enquiry with archaeological artefacts in primary school T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johansson, Patrik PY - 2019 VL - 1 SP - 78 EP - 104 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - intercultural learning KW - historical enquiry KW - sourcing KW - archaeological artefacts KW - primary school KW - phenomenography KW - variation theory KW - historical consciousness KW - de estetiska KW - humanistiska och samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - humanities and social science education AB - The article contributes with knowledge of primary school pupils’ learning of historical enquiry with an intercultural perspective on the Viking age and investigates what it means for pupils to learn to interpret archaeological artefacts. Research was conducted as a Learning study with 10 and 11-year-old pupils and lessons were performed as historical enquiry with archaeological artefacts. Three questions are posed: (1) how were the pupils’ historical consciousness activated by the archaeological artefacts, (2) how did the pupils experience the task of interpreting archaeological artefacts with an intercultural perspective, and (3) what are critical aspects for this learning? Three variation patterns that activated pupils’ historical consciousness are identified, including (a) material, (b) cultural and (c) normative contrasts. Four perception categories for historical interpretation of archaeological artefacts and three critical aspects are also identified. It is suggested that it is critical for the pupils to discern (i) historicity, (ii) historical representativeness and (iii) intercultural interaction in relation to artefacts and historical narratives. The study suggests that teachers could start from archaeological artefacts to activate pupils’ historical consciousness, rather than from textbook narratives and that pupils’ perceptions should be seen as a resource in enabling historical learning. Also, historical enquiry appears to be a reasonable approach to teaching intercultural perspectives on a historical content. These findings can be valuable for history educators and researchers who engage in teaching historical enquiry with an intercultural perspective from material culture. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lärarstudenters historiekunskaper och ämneskonception T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Johnsson Harrie, Anna A1 - Ludvigsson, David A1 - Sjöberg, Mats PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 49 EP - 77 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historielärarstudenter KW - ämneskonception KW - ämneskunskaper KW - tidsrum KW - historiekunskaper AB - Supporting students to master the transition from secondary school to university is a challenge that occupies educators in many countries. In order to support the students in effective ways, we need to know what subject conceptions and subject knowledge they bring to academic studies. In this study, the authors draw on questionnaire data from 462 student teachers in Sweden. The questionnaires were filled in the first week the students studied history at university. Among the students, some trained to be history teachers at primary and elementary school, whereas others trained to be history teachers at secondary school. The results indicate there are both similarities and differences between the student groups. Those training to become history teachers at primary and elementary school identified with the teacher profession but less so with the subject of history. Those studying to become history teachers at secondary school tended to identify with the subject but less so with the teacher profession. Most students argued that history is important in order to understand the present. All student groups manifested knowledge about “time-spaces” of the past, i.e. they were able to show a rough chronological framework. A minority among the students manifested a chaotic chronological order. Among students studying to become teachers at secondary school, there is a tendency that they have weaker knowledge about older history and Nordic history as compared to modern history and Swedish and world history. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ”Jag brukar säga att religionskursen är som en liten survival kit” – religionslärares uppfattningar av religionsämnets innehåll och roll i gymnasieskolan T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jonsson, Linda A1 - Månsson, Niclas PY - 2022 VL - 1 IS - 12 SP - 48 EP - 70 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - religions study education KW - rationale KW - subject foci KW - teaching KW - teacher assignment cher KW - religionskunskapsundervisning KW - undervisning KW - läraruppdrag KW - religionskunskap KW - ämnesfokus KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - utbildningsvetenskapliga studier AB - This article departs from the educational reform of upper secondary school 2011, and the changing in the curricula for religion studies education. Our theoretical point of departure is inspired by Ivor Godson's and Thomas Popkewitz's understanding of a school subject and its relation to socialisation. In relation to their understanding of a school subject and its socializing role, we see a didactical implication that the subject of religious study education will fall back to transferring knowledge that is easy to teach, control, assess, and grade. We wonder how teachers in religion education studies respond to, and handle existential and pupil related questions in the classroom when they, for example, are addressed with questions about life and death, the environmental crisis or global poverty, even if there is no scheduled time for such matters. To answer this question, we have interviewed eleven religion education teachers from different programs in upper secondary school about how they consider the subject, its content and purpose and how this materialises in their teaching. The conclusions we could draw from our interviews are that most of the teachers try to be open and respond to existential and pupil-initiated questions, even if there is no scheduled time for this, while others focuses on facts about the Abrahamitic religions.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Eurocentrism in Teaching about World War One – a Norwegian Case T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jore, Mari Kristine PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 114 EP - 135 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - world war one KW - eurocentrism KW - imperialism KW - colonialism KW - history education AB - In this article, I argue that the imperial and colonial aspects of WW1 hold an ambiguous position in teaching about the war, presented as a cause of the war, but not acknowledged as a part of its history. Data was established through observation of history education about WW1 in the context of social studies at a lower secondary school in Norway. Identifying different manifestations of Eurocentrism, I first discuss how the national curriculum and textbook representations both explicitly thematize imperialism and colonialism, but at the same time reproduces Eurocentrism in terms of how non-Western history only enters the curriculum in the context of Western imperialism and colonialism. Secondly, teachers briefly mention colonial rule and exploitation when teaching about a war, which was a global and an imperial conflict. Finally, Eurocentrism emerges in the discrepancy between the image the teachers create, of colonies as resources for colonial rule, and the pupil’s perceptions of Africa as a continent of lack. The article aims to discuss the dilemmas and challenges Eurocentrism poses to history education and argues for the importance of using strategies which deconstruct and challenge Eurocentric narratives. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Agens och existens i ämnesundervisningen: medborgarbildning i religionskunskap, psykologi och samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jägerskog, Ann-Sofie A1 - Halvarson Britton, Thérèse A1 - Olson, Maria PY - 2022 VL - 4 SP - 1 EP - 26 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - citizenship education KW - subject teaching KW - arendt KW - agency KW - existence KW - religious education KW - social studies KW - ämnesdidaktik med inriktning mot de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - teaching and learning with specialisation in the social sciences education AB - The purpose of the article is twofold. Firstly, the ambition is to argue on a theoretical basis, with exemplification in three school subjects in Sweden - religious education, psychology and social studies, for a widening of the understanding of the citizenship education assignment of schools and subject teaching and the point in doing so. Secondly, the ambition is to show what this can mean specifically in relation to the subject teaching of these three school subjects in Swedish primary school and in upper secondary school. The starting point in the argumentation is taken from Hannah Arendt's thoughts on education, man and existence (2004, 1958/2013). The argument leads to the notion that the citizen-forming task of subject teaching not only needs to include agency dimensions - students' 'doing', their opportunities for action and readiness for action in society and in the world - but also existential dimensions - students' 'being in society and the world', their opportunities to grow as unique people in the meeting with subject teaching. As agency dimensions seem to be more elaborated in current subject didactic research than existential dimensions, the ambition in the article is to elaborate in an in-depth manner how existential dimensions can be depicted and the importance of them ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Politisk mestringstro og kontroversielle spørsmål i samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jøsok, Eva A1 - Kjøstvedt, Anders PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 109 EP - 130 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samfunnsfagsdidaktikk KW - demokrati og medborgerskap KW - kontroversielle spørsmål KW - politisk mestringstro KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The ICCS 2016-study reveals that political efficacy is the most important variable for determining future political participation among Norwegian adolescents. This variable is in turn heavily influenced by the adolescents’ socioeconomic status, gender and use of a minority or majority language (Huang et al., 2017; Ødegård & Svagård, 2018). In this article we ask how Civic and Citizenship Education in Social Studies may contribute to a levelling of this impact on the adolescents’ political efficacy. Our analysis is based on interviews with 16 lower-secondary teachers, all teaching Social Studies at four different schools. Our conclusion is that working with controversial issues as part of the Civic and Citizenship Education in Social Studies may contribute to a levelling of the impact of the adolescents’ social background. Specifically, our research shows that the teachers who are able to break the pattern for how social background determines political efficacy approach the inclusion of controversial issues much more openly and consciously. Additionally, they have a higher level of tolerance when discussing controversial issues in the classroom, and tend to emphasize epistemic and political criteria for what makes an issue controversial. Teachers that are not able to break the pattern for how social background determines political efficacy severely limits the discussion of controversial issues in the classroom, and tend to interpret controversial issues as emotionally sensitive.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Designing an assessment tool for historical literacy: the case of Copernicus T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Khawaja, Amna PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 26 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical literacy KW - historical thinking KW - design-based research assessment KW - primary school AB - This design-based research describes the development process of an assessment tool for historical literacy at primary school level where existing assessment materials are scarce. The assessment task was tested thrice during a two-year-period in Finland and Sweden. Sixty pupils participated in a pen-and-paper-test while seven took part in think-aloud interviews. The task included three written documents on the relationship between Nicolaus Copernicus and the Catholic Church. The length of the original documents was reduced and the language simplified age-appropriately. The results revealed a tendency to read the sources as information rather than as evidence. Also, the concept of reliability proved difficult. Alterations during the re-design phases included dividing broad questions into smaller entities and directing pupils´ attention to the characteristics of source types. Many pupils responded to the weighted multiple-choice (WMC) items as if they were traditional multiple-choice questions: they chose the first correct sounding option without pondering over the others. However, one WMC item was particularly successful as all the think-aloud protocols showed that the item met its target construct. As a whole, the artefact did elicit historically literate observations among some pupils. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Towards Interpretive and Empathetic Encounters between Worldviews T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kimanen, Anuleena A1 - Kallioniemi, Arto PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 118 EP - 135 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - interreligious competences KW - inter-worldview competences KW - interfaith education KW - religious studies and theology AB - Research on young people’s attitudes and skills in dealing with religious diversity has been conducted in many surveys, but in real life one is faced with many different types of diversity. How does pupils’ preparedness for inter-worldview dialogue develop? This article approaches young people’s emotions faced by different types of dissimilarity and skills of asking about others’ worldviews. Key theories in analysing the results were Abu-Nimer’s stage model of interreligious sensitivity and Jackson’s interpretive approach to religious education with a special focus on empathy. The use of pictures when studying emotions revealed that most of the participants experienced non-religious features as pleasant. The pictures depicting the most dissimilarity were experienced as the most negative but also in many cases as interesting. The questions written by the teenagers indicated a wide range of attitudes and skills. Many of them were capable of addressing religious or personal meanings, thus showing an ability to rise above the surface level and seek understanding. An interesting category of questions on the possibility of inter-worldview interaction also emerged. Visual techniques in the research on teenagers’ thinking should be further developed because young people today are surrounded by images. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Education, Identity and Nation Building – the Case of Greenland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kjærgaard, Kathrine PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 114 EP - 130 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - curriculum studies KW - greenland KW - national imaginaries KW - identity KW - christianity KW - inuit religion KW - religious studies and theology AB - The article examines the interplay between Religious Education, Identity and Nation-Building in Greenland. Through analysis of different levels of curriculum it is demonstrated that just as Christian Religion was an important part of the early Nation-Building process in Greenland in the 18th century, Inuit Religion is used as an important part of the Nation-Building process today as Greenland moves towards greater independence. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religionsfag som det muliges kunst eller umulige kompromiser?: De Skandinaviske religionsfags udviklinger siden 1990érne T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kjeldsen, Karna PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 26 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religionsundervisning i norden KW - læreplaner KW - kristendom i skolen KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Sweden, Norway and Denmark have for many years separated from most countries in the world by having non-confessional religious education (RE) as timetabled subjects in the public elementary school. This article analyses and compares the official curricula for these subjects from 1994 to 2022 focussing on concepts on religion and culture, objectives, aims and contents, didactical approaches and the status and role of Christianity. The curricula for RE in Norway and Sweden show the largest degree of developments, while RE in Denmark have kept the same official profile during this period. The historical developments of the curricula reflect attempts of balancing between different interests, strategies and traditions. However, these compromises can also result in aspects, which from a critical perspective are problematic when it comes to non-confessional school subjects in multicultural, democratic and secular societies.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transfer and Cohesion in Interdisciplinary Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Klausen, Sören Harnow PY - 2014 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 20 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad AB - One of the great challenges of interdisciplinary education is to create sufficient cohesion between disciplines. It is suggested that cohesion depends on the transfer of knowledge (in a broad sense, which includes skill and competences) among the disciplines involved. Some of the most characteristic types of such transfer are identified and analyzed: Transfer of factual knowledge, theories, methods, models, skills, modes of collaboration and organization, meta-competences, disciplinary self-consciousness, problem selection, framework construction and motivation. Though some of these types of transfer may have a greater or smaller potential for creating cohesion, different kinds of cohesion may serve different interests, and there is no reason to assume that e.g. joint problem solving or theoretical integration should be more conducive to cohesion than e.g. contributions to motivation or disciplinary self-consciousness. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ordinary Finns and Minority Folk: The Representation of Minorities and Colonialism in History Education in Finland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kohvakka, Tanja PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 39 EP - 61 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - minorities KW - textbook research KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Although the population of Finland has always been culturally and linguistically diverse, history education in Finland has nonetheless long excluded the history of its minorities and its colonial past. Instead, history education has portrayed Finland as a historically homogeneous nation-state. This article examines the representation of minorities in Finland and the portrayal of colonialism in 18 history textbooks used in Finnish basic education, written in both Finnish and Swedish. It uses discourse analysis to investigate how the selected history textbooks discuss minorities and colonialism within their texts. The study finds that there are significant differences between textbooks written in Finnish and Swedish, the latter including more information of, and critical perspectives on, minorities and colonialism. Nonetheless, many minority groups remain invisible in all the analysed textbooks. Finally, the textbooks, for their part, mainly associate colonialism with overseas activities and do not delve into Nordic colonialism in Sápmi. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Forhandling og forståing av føremåla for det norske religions- og livssynsfaget i læreplan og lærebøker T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Korsvoll, Nils H. PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 26 EP - 47 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religions- og livssynsundervising KW - læreverk KW - læreplan KW - interkulturell utdanning KW - kulturarv KW - religious studies and theology AB - There are many perceptions of and priorities for religious education (RE), both in Norway and across Europe. Norwegian RE is called upon to simultaneously promote national values and facilitate intercultural education. I explore how this is negotiated in and between, first, the national curriculum and a selection of RE textbooks, and then in the ongoing curricular revisions (20172020). While the outgoing curriculum stresses identity and heritage, the textbooks promote diversity and tolerance. Thus, the textbook authors appear to rely on more recent, international academic developments rather than the political priorities of the national curriculum, in what Oddrun M. H. Bråten has called a bypass. These developments are also prominent in the curricular revisions, but traces of the heritage-discourse remain. Hence, the new national curriculum is not a fundamental shift from the previous one, but it strengthens the notion of RE as intercultural education, in line with the views expressed in the RE textbooks.    ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sources of Internal Political Efficacy in the Social Studies Classroom: A Qualitative Investigation of Norwegian Lower Secondary Students’ Perceptions T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kosberg, Eva PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 30 EP - 54 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - internal political efficacy KW - education for democracy KW - social studies KW - political participation KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article explores lower secondary students’ perceptions of how their experiences in the social studies classroom might affect their sense of internal political efficacy (IPE). The qualitative data underlying the research are group interviews with 13- and 14-year-old Norwegian students, which were analyzed using a constant-comparative method. The students’ responses indicate that there are three obstacles to IPE facing the students in the social studies classroom: (1) the reactions of their peers in political discussions, (2) the perception that adolescents are not respected due to their young age, and (3) a view of opinions as fixed and hence unchangeable. The possible solutions given by the students are to work to enhance the level of respect and support that they experience in the classroom, to practice politics through carefully structured discussions, and to work in smaller groups. In analyzing the findings, Albert Bandura’s theory of how efficacy develops as a consequence of experiences in a person’s environment has been useful. The article also draws on Gert Biesta’s framework, describing how one central aim of education is to enable students to function as subjects in a world that brings both possibilities and limitations to their preferred actions. The main implication is that the social studies teacher should aim for critical analysis and raising awareness of different perspectives instead of focusing solely on the students' personal opinions.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskapsämnet och dess ämnesmarkörer på svenskt mellanstadium – ett osynligt eget ämne som bistår andra ämnen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kristiansson, Martin PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 212 EP - 233 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics-didactics KW - civics KW - social studies KW - middle school KW - subject-markers KW - samhällskunskapsdidaktik KW - samhällskunskap KW - samhällsorienterande undervisning KW - grundskolans mellanstadium KW - ämnesmarkörer AB - Based on interviews with teachers about their social studies teaching in Swedish middle schools (age 10-12), the characteristics and contents of civics, as one of the subjects in social studies, is interpreted related to the concept of "subject markers". The interviews show that civics is vague and incoherent. Yet, the teachers teach about a similar content but whose parts are unclear and not clearly interconnected. Hence, civics remains unclear and incoherent, reinforced by its outer unclear boundaries. Based on this interpretation, questions of the visibility of civics as a distinct school-subject have occurred which have led to the formation of the concept of "subject-markers". Its function is to make the subject visible. The concept has been differentiated in order to highlight different aspects of visibility and shows that the presence, or lack of, and the interactions between the various types of markers makes civics invisible as a distinct subject. More than operating independently, it tends to be pulled apart mostly assisting other school-subjects, especially geography and history. These subjects appear to be far more clear, coherent and visible as distinct subjects within social studies. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Response: the diversity of RE as a research field and the social function of religion as a moral negotiation ground T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Krupka, Bernd PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 109 EP - 117 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - public religion KW - research KW - epistemology KW - religious studies and theology AB - Present changes in religion as a school subject and Religious Education as a research field are generally, and also by most of the authors in this volume, explained by changes in the subject matter of religion, due to increasing religious pluralism. In a functional perspective, the school subject of religion contributes to the legitimizing function of school education for society and its institutions. With religion being a central moral negotiation ground in society, moral debate in society (and not only religious subject matter), and its constitutional role for Religious Education as a research field can explain further diversity of approaches to research in Religious Education. This also raises questions about the field's vulnerability to public instrumentalization and about moral negotiation and its place in religious education didactics. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Etnopolitiske utmaningar i historieformidling – Grunnforteljingar om samefolket i Noreg T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kvande, Lise PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 86 EP - 105 LA - nno PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical narratives KW - norway KW - sami people KW - indigenous people AB - The article discusses the place and the status of the Sami people in historical narratives in Norway. It focuses on history as a school subject but this focus can only be understood by looking at changes in contexts. Of special interest here is the presentations of the Sami in Norwegian textbooks, the status of the Sami people in Norwegian society, and changes in the perspectives in historical research. History has played a significant role in the nation and state building processes in the Western countries, however in the last decades most European societies have seen immigration at a larger scale than before and, hence, new challenges concerning national identity and inclusion of new groups in the new histories of the nations. The indigenous people in Norway, the Sami, have lived both within and across the Norwegian borders. For centuries they were absent in the political and cultural narratives of Norway. After WW II they gradually achieved political recognition and legal rights but it was not until the 1970s they obtained space in Norwegian textbooks. The article shows how narratives about the Sami people have been presented and how they have changed in the last 40 years. The narratives first made the Sami visible, then they focused on the Sami as an object of oppression, and more recently they have presented the Sami as acting subjects in history. The question is not if, and to what extent, the Sami ought to be included in histories of Norway, but rather in what view the majority presents the indigenous people in the textbooks, for example. This discussion is relevant to debates on multiculturality in general and it also offers a deeper understanding of how history works in (ethno)political contexts. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Teaching RE – for what purpose? A discourse analysis of teachers’ talk about their teaching in relation to children’s existential questions T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kärnebro, Katarina PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 158 EP - 178 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - existential questions KW - re-didactics KW - primary school KW - teacher interviews KW - transformative education KW - discourse analysis KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In the 1960s, existential questions [sw. livsfrågor] were introduced as a theme of the Swedish subject “Knowledge of Religion” to make space for students’ own questions. However, studies on the recent curriculum changes show that teachers experience that there is a stronger emphasis on knowledge about a predetermined content than before. Based on interviews with eleven upper primary school RE teachers, this article investigates what the teachers consider today when planning their teaching, and highlights the discourses that teachers construct, engage in or sustain when talking about their professional and pedagogical actions. The aim of the study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the enacted curriculum when it comes to students’ existential questions, and to discuss some implications of how the teachers view RE - as a transmission of knowledge or as a transformative practice for the learners. The results indicate that Teaching for the syllabus is a dominant discourse in the teachers’ talk, at the cost of Teaching for understanding democratic values and Teaching for engagement. The dominant discourse stems from perceived systemic constraints, and constructs the students as objects of teaching, which leaves little regard for the students’ own questions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Controversial Topics in Social Studies Teaching in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Larsson, Anna A1 - Larsson, Lars PY - 2021 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 21 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - controversial issues education KW - comparative perspective KW - civics KW - geography KW - religious education KW - sweden KW - education AB - In recent international educational policy discussions, the importance of schools and teachers dealing with controversial societal issues has been highlighted as the role of such issues in the liberal democracies has been discussed. However, we do not know much about the present situation in schools; which controversial issues that teachers choose to bring up in teaching, and how these are related to the curriculum. In this article, we present, based on 80 teachers’ survey answers, which controversial issues are being dealt with in Swedish social studies subjects in grades 7–9, and we analyse them comparatively between the subjects and in relation to the curriculum. The study shows that teachers in different ways combine topical problems with curriculum objectives in their transformation of contents into classroom teaching. Based on how the findings of this study can be related to previous discussions about controversial issues education, we argue that to be able to explain the teachers’ choices, we need to develop the conceptual and educational theories on this matter to more involve what takes place among the students and in everyday classroom realities. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2019:3: Komparativ ämnesdidaktik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Larsson, Anna A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2019 VL - 3 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kontroversiella samhällsfrågor i samhällsorienterande ämnen 1962–2017: en komparation T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Larsson, Anna PY - 2019 VL - 3 SP - 1 EP - 23 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - comparative didactics KW - geography KW - religious education KW - civics KW - social studies KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education KW - subject-specific education AB - Teaching social studies in Swedish school involve dealing with many complex and potentially controversial issues. This implies didactical challenges. This article uses a subject comparative perspective to discuss how controversial societal issues have been presented and changed as teaching objects in the social studies subjects in Swedish school years 7 to 9 since 1962. By following curriculum changes over time, the aim is to show similarities and differences between the school subjects of geography, history, religion and civics concerning the role of controversial issues. What controversial issues can be found in the curriculum texts? How are teachers supposed to teach them? What importance for the students are they given? By comparatively answering these research questions this study offers deepened knowledge about the social studies subjects and the role of controversial issues, but also about Swedish curriculum history in general. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskapsämnets utveckling i Sverige: kommentarartikel til Torben Spanget Christensen, Samfundsfag i Danmark T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Larsson, Anna A1 - Ledman, Kristina PY - 2023 VL - 1 IS - 13 SP - 66 EP - 73 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads universitet KW - civics KW - social studies KW - history of education KW - sweden KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning AB - Kommentarartikel til Torben Spanget Christensen, Samfundsfag i DanmarkMot bakgrund av Torben Spanget Christensens artikel om utvecklingen av skolämnet samfundsfag i Danmark har vi av Nordidacticas redaktion ombetts att skriva några sidor om utvecklingen i Sverige av motsvarande skolämne, samhällskunskap. Vi börjar med en översiktlig genomgång av ämnets utveckling sedan inrättandet. Därefter kommer vi att med hjälp av några illustrerande exempel visa hur läroböcker för samhällsundervisning har förändrats över tid och avsluta med några jämförande reflektioner. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sambandet mellan kunskap och kritiskt tänkande - en empirisk studie av elevers svar på samhällskunskapsfrågor T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Larsson, Kristoffer A1 - Andersson, Klas PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - critical thinking KW - knowledge KW - generalists KW - specifists KW - social studies KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - What critical thinking is and what is required in order to think critically, has been the focus of a long-lasting debate. One central controversy has concerned what role knowledge of the object to be thought about plays when to thinking critically. So called “generalists” have proposed that there is no need for any deeper knowledge regarding the object to thinking critically about; the central thing being to apply generic principles for critical thinking. So called “specifists” have, on the contrary, claimed that knowledge about the object in fact is the vehicle for being able to think critically. What characterize this debate is that it almost exclusively has been held on a theoretical level, with no substantial empirical evidence underpinning neither position. In the study reported we aimed to contribute empirically to the debate. 91 9th grade students participated in the study. Using essay tasks from the Swedish national tests in social studies, the students were asked to think critically about two social issues: wage differences and voting age. At the same time, we tested the student knowledge about these two issues. We used OLS regression analysis to estimate the relationship between knowledge and critical thinking ability for the two issues. The relationship was tested 191 times (90 times for wage differences, 91 times for voting age). The result is inconclusive, with no significant relationship for wage differences and significant relationship for voting age. Thus, the result gives neither the generalists nor the specifists right in their theoretical assumptions about the role of knowledge in critical thinking. The truth might possibly lie somewhere in between. Further research is needed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Discourses of criticality in Nordic countries’ school subject Civics T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ledman, Kristina PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 149 EP - 167 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - social studies KW - citizenship education KW - criticality KW - critical thinking KW - curriculum KW - comparative method KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Criticality (the ability to think, self-reflect and act critically, as well as reason analytically) is framed as an important goal of education generally, and citizenship education specifically. However, literature and research within subject didactics tend to frame criticality as subject-specific, hence its conceptualisation can vary substantially depending on epistemological and research traditions. Thus, this paper compares its treatment in the same subject, civics, in curricula of the five Nordic countries. Civics is an interesting case as it is a major element of citizenship education, which varies somewhat among the five countries. Four ideal types of criticality are elaborated and deployed in the analysis: general, disciplinary, moral and ideological criticality. The results reveal substantial differences between the five compared curricula. They also reveal apparent correlations between civics as a single-subject construct (as in Denmark and Sweden) and disciplinary criticality, and between civics as an integrated curriculum construct (as in Iceland) and general criticality. Overall, the disciplinary view of criticality slightly prevails in the five compared curricula. The results raise questions about contextual factors’ effects on how criticality is constructed in school subjects, and helps reflection on what we actually refer to when we talk about a certain school subject. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Voice of History and the Message of the National Curriculum: Recontextualising History to a Pedagogic Discourse for Upper Secondary VET T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ledman, Kristina PY - 2014 VL - 2 SP - 161 EP - 179 LA - eng PB - Karlstad KW - history education KW - vocational education KW - upper secondary education KW - curriculum KW - curriculum reform KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education AB - In the reform by the liberal-conservative government of Swedish upper secondary education in 2011, history was recognized as an important part of citizenship education and was introduced into the curriculum for vocational education and training (VET) tracks. Through the concepts of classification and framing, this article explores the process of constructing the history syllabus for VET. The data consist of archived material from the working group responsible for the history curriculum under the Swedish National Agency for Education. The analysis shows that there are competing discourses concerning the relative emphasis on competencies and skills and concerning the emphasis on contemporary and modern history. Although historians, history teachers and other agents are invited to respond to the content of the curriculum, the respondents have no influence on the knowledge structure of the curriculum, which is controlled by agents of the dominant educational ideology. From a critical perspective, this article suggests that the curriculum reflects the instrumental and neoconservative message of the reform through strong classification and framing and through the emphasis on general abilities and a contemporary history that has a more direct explanatory value to contemporary society. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Canon and archive in messages from Oslo Cathedral Square in the aftermath of July 22nd 2011 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lied, Sidsel A1 - Undseth Bakke, Sidsel PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 34 EP - 56 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - memorial messages KW - critical event KW - values KW - cultural memory KW - the norwegian flag KW - love and roses as weapons KW - religious studies and theology AB - In this article we ask if central values which people were in dialogue with in the memorial messages from Oslo Cathedral Square in the aftermath of July 22nd 2011, may be seen as a part of Norwegian cultural memory, and if so, how. We answer this question in the affirmative, by elaborating on presentations of the Norwegian flag as a symbol of the values unity and solidarity, and on presentations of love and roses as weapons promoting the values love, humanity and calmness. In our discussion we have drawn on theory of cultural memory and suggested that the use of the Norwegian flag in the messages may be understood in the frame of Assmann’s term "canon", representing the active part of cultural remembrance, and that the message from the use of roses and hearts may be understood in the frame of the term "archive", representing the passive part of remembrance. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Moderniserad kristendom i läroböcker för högstadiet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Liljestrand, Johan A1 - Carlsson, David A1 - Thalén, Peder PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 51 EP - 70 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - teaching books KW - christianity KW - majority culture KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In the Swedish curriculum for the compulsory school Christianity's influence on Swedish society and its values ​​is a prominent theme.  The research question in this paper is: how does the depiction of Christianity relate to the present Swedish society? Teaching books aimed for the compulsory national school system (year 7-9) has been analysed out from the assumption that the national context comprises a stronger link to its representation, rather than the context of religious communities. Ten teaching books were chosen from prominent publishers from 2011, the year of the present curriculum, until 2014. The books were read several times searching for preliminary and successively final patterns. One recurrent theme was identified: a preference for liberal, modernized Christianity. Language patterns regarding overall composition, intertextual links and choice of words were discerned in the excerpts favouring modern Christianity. This theme is contextualised in relation to the Swedish majority culture as post-Church, i.e. secular Lutheranism likewise recognisable in the Swedish curriculum. We suggest that the links between the teaching books and Swedish majority culture contributes to the reproduction of Swedish majority culture as a post-Church society.       ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att motverka fragmentering i historieundervisningen: Recension av Rickard Nordkvists licentiatuppsats T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lilliestam, Anna-Lena PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 102 EP - 105 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att motverka fragmentering i historieundervisningen: Recension av Rickard Nordkvists licentiatuppsats T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lilliestam, Anna-Lena PY - 2017 VL - 3 IS - 2017 SP - 102 EP - 105 LA - swe KW - historiedidaktik KW - big picture teaching KW - utvecklingsarbete KW - fragmentering AB - I artikeln diskuteras problemet med elevers fragmentariska kunskaper i historia. Kan detta avhjälpas med hjälp av en historieundervisning som bygger på skapandet av historiska ramverk, Big Pictures? I den presenterade uppsatsen beskrivs ett utvecklingsprojekt där yrkesverksamma lärare söker planera en undervisning som har sådana ramverk som organiserande princip. Avslutningsvis lyfter artikeln problematiken med att utmana lärares föreställningar om vad historieundervisning är och skall vara. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lågstadielärare talar om sin undervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lilliestam, Anna-Lena A1 - Holmqvist Lidh, Carina A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 48 EP - 72 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - lower primary school KW - social studies KW - teacher thinking KW - values KW - progressivism KW - pupils of foreign background AB - The syllabus for the social study subjects (geography, history, civics, and religious education) in Swedish Lower Primary school prescribes work both with a traditional content, (i.e. maps, the Stone age, who decides in our society, why do we celebrate Christmas) and work to get the pupils to embrace values and norms that are desirable in a democratic society. This study explores the goals thirteen Swedish Lower Primary school teachers express concerning their teaching in geography, history, civics, and religious education and how they balance between aspects of substantive knowledge and the fostering aspects of these subjects. The results are discussed in relation to selective traditions in Swedish school. The teachers express a traditional view of the subjects and there are few indications of the domain-specific abilities required in the syllabus. There are considerable differences between how the teachers value the importance of the different subjects and the different substantive contents within the subjects. This indicates that there also are differences in how they carry through their teaching. There are also differences in how the teachers balance between the substantive and fostering aspects of the subjects. Some teachers stress the importance of working with the substantive content of the subjects, while others express the view that these subjects only consist of the fostering aspects and has no substantive knowledge at all. The analysis shows strong influence from the progressivistic tradition on the teachers’ reasoning. They stress the importance of paying attention to the pupils’ prior experiences and to adjust the teaching to the educational needs of their pupils, especially concerning the work with values and norms. All the teachers want to foster the pupils to embrace democratic values and norms for living together in a classroom and in the society as a whole. In addition, the teachers working with pupils of foreign background aim at enhancing their pupils’ pride of themselves and their background, as well as their integration into Swedish society, by promoting equality between the sexes, tolerance between different religions and different ethnic groups. Doing this, they hope to counteract criminality and gangs. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lågstadielärare talar om sin undervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lilliestam, Anna-Lena A1 - Holmqvist Lidh, Carina A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2020 VL - 2 IS - 10 SP - 48 EP - 72 LA - swe KW - lågstadiet KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - lärares tänkande KW - värden KW - progressivism KW - elever med utländsk bakgrund lower primary school KW - social studies KW - teacher thinking KW - values KW - pupils of foreign background AB - Artikeln beskriver en intervjustudie med tretton legitimerade och erfarna lågstadielärare om deras undervisning i de samhällsorienterande ämnena. Ett centralt tema är spänningen mellan dessa ämnens kognitiva ämnesinnehåll och de fostrande aspekterna och hur lärarna balanserar mellan dessa poler. Några lärare beskriver ett stort arbete med kunskapsinnehållet i geografi, historia, religionskunskap och samhällskunskap, medan andra förnekar att det finns något kunskapsinnehåll i ämnena alls, utan menar att det enbart är fostran och socialisation. De lärare som har en majoritet elever med utländsk bakgrund beskriver ett arbete med att främja "svenska" värden av jämställdhet och tolerans mellan olika grupper. Materialet undersöks också med fokus på svenska skolans selektiva traditioner. Delvis i kontrast mot styrdokumentens intentioner framträder en klassisk bildningstradition och progressivistiska idéer om vikten att utgå från elevernas erfarenhetsvärld. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Nyblivna lärarstudenters syn på historia och historieundervisning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lilliestam, Anna-Lena PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 21 EP - 47 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - student teachers KW - teacher education KW - domain specific abilities KW - historical reasoning KW - students´conceptions AB - The study explores new student teachers’ understanding of history and history teaching. During the first lesson of their teacher training program, 35 students wrote about their motives for becoming history teachers and of their conceptions of the purpose and the content of history in school. The students express a strong commitment to the teaching profession as such, rather than to the subject of history. Common views expressed on the purpose of history are to help pupils understand how we got here; not to repeat the mistakes from the past; to learn about other cultures; to learn to respect others; to work against racism; and to develop specific abilities. Results show a view of history as a memorization of facts, connections, and analyses. A curriculum focusing on the West appears to be taken for granted. The concept "critical thinking" is used in diverse ways: analyzing texts, criticizing people in the past for their actions, and evaluating sources. Studying the Holocaust and other genocides is supposed to help pupils develop a democratic disposition. The students point out the importance of criticizing secondary sources in relation to individual in-depth studies, but the use of primary sources is not discussed. Results indicate that teacher training should challenge the idea of history as memorization, as well as problematize the connections between certain historic content and desired outcomes. Students should also get an opportunity to develop their ability to reason historically, e.g. to make analyses, to adopt different perspectives, to think critically and to use primary sources. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historiska medier: Forskarskola i historia med didaktisk inriktning (ForHiM) T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lindmark, Daniel PY - 2011 VL - 2 SP - 91 EP - 92 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Centrum för de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education KW - historiedidaktik KW - didactics of history ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Om anti-antisemittisme T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lindstrøm, Jon A. PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 25 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - antisemitism KW - israeli-palestinian conflict KW - jews and judaism KW - critique of religion and ideology KW - prevention of antisemitism in schools AB - No one can disagree that it is important to combat antisemitism to the extent it is about anti-Jewish racism, hatred of Jews based on false religious and ideological convictions, and attacks on fundamental civil rights for Jews. At the same time, it can be just as legitimate to criticize Jewish religion and ideology as other types of religion and ideology. Both positive and negative beliefs about Jews as a group can have some degree of validity. In our time, hostile attitudes to Jews is particularly connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jews in the diaspora are not responsible for Israel’s policy towards Palestinians. Nevertheless, they will risk being disliked to the extent they sympathize with Israel. The present article discusses these general points within the specific didactic context of combatting antisemitism in schools. Public ardor to eradicate antisemitism may be in conflict with the spirit of critical inquiry that the school system ought to promote in a “community of disagreement”.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Den nya syntesen och etik i undervisningen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lindström, Niclas PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 27 EP - 43 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - moral education KW - ethics education KW - social intuitionist model KW - moral foundation theory KW - the new synthesis KW - jonathan haidt. KW - religious studies and theology AB - Researchers within the educational field usually acknowledge the idea that teaching is an essentially moral activity. Yet, they seem to have different opinions on how teachers are supposed to complete that task in their everyday pedagogical practice. Jonathan Haidt has conducted a series of international studies, during recent years, revealing how people in general tend to respond ethically to situations that evoke strong emotional reactions. Based on the results he has presented a theory, the New Syntheses, in which he claims to explain the difference between the dominating moral pedagogical models and develop new approaches to teaching ethics. The present paper is based on a survey of Swedish teacher students and religious education teachers for which we have borrowed two of Jonathan Haidts examples. We discuss the New Synthesis in relation to the results of the surveys and the ethical dimension of the teaching profession. We argue that these results indicate a need for teacher students and teachers to consciously reflect on their values and methods for approaching ethics in education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Olof Franck & Malin Löfstedt "Etikdidaktik – Grundbok om etikundervisning i teori och praktik" T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lindström, Niclas PY - 2015 VL - 4 SP - 106 EP - 111 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education ER - TY - JOUR T1 - En komplex historia: Lärares omformning, undervisningsmönster och strategier i historieundervisning på högstadiet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ludvigsson, David PY - 2012 VL - 1 SP - 80 EP - 82 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - history teaching KW - history didactics KW - historiedidaktik KW - undervisningsstrategi KW - lärares arbete KW - historieundervisning ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historielärares historier: Ämnesbiografi och ämnesförståelse hos gymnasielärare i historia T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ludvigsson, David PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 80 EP - 83 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - history teacher KW - history teaching KW - history didactics KW - historiedidaktik KW - historielärare KW - historieundervisning KW - gymnasielärare ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lärarstudenters relation till historieämnet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ludvigsson, David PY - 2011 VL - 1 IS - 1 SP - 40 EP - 57 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - history teaching KW - history didactics KW - student teacher KW - teacher education KW - teacher preparation KW - historiedidaktik KW - lärarstudenter KW - lärarutbildning KW - historieundervisning AB - Student teachers in Sweden conducted structured inquiry projects in which they investigated school children’s understanding of history. Analysis of the student teachers’ written assignments indicates ambivalence on part of the student teachers. On the one hand, they want to change both content and teaching methods in the subject of history, but on the other hand many of them seem happy with how things are. Further, the student teachers want to take the interests and needs of their pupils seriously, but they do not reflect much on what will be the practical consequences of this for their teaching. The student teachers did not use a specialised vocabulary when discussing history and history teaching, which indicates the academic training they have got may be inadequate. It appears that the investigations challenged the beliefs of the student teachers about children’s prior knowledge. After taking part in the projects, the student teachers claimed they had developed a new appreciation for children’s prior ideas. These findings suggest that structured investigations, focused on specific disciplinary content, have the potential to encourage student teachers’ reflection on their pupils’ cognition. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - "It’s just very natural" – interpersonal knowledge as a didactical device in guided classroom conversations in religious education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lund Johannessen, Øystein PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 51 EP - 75 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - dialogue KW - classroom conversations KW - professional knowledge KW - contextual knowledge KW - interpersonal knowledge KW - religious studies and theology AB - This article investigates how teachers in religious education (RE) think and act as professionals while working with differences in religious and philosophy of life experiences and beliefs in class and trying to do this in respectful and inclusive ways. It analyses data from two research projects that were carried out in lower secondary school in Norway. The main research question is: What is the relationship between teachers’ contextual knowledge and knowledge of the child and how do these two dimensions of professional knowledge interact when religious education teachers try to strike a good balance between inclusion and productive learning in their teaching practice? The data analysed were drawn from three different data sets featuring three Norwegian religious education-teachers. The research was part of the EU-funded "REDCo"-project and the "Religious education and diversity" - project ["ROM"] funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The interviewees emphasized the potential of the religious education subject to contribute to a wider tolerance for difference and to support individual students in their identity management. The analysis shows, however, that considerable contextual awareness - of the classroom and of the local community - is needed to realize this potential. It also shows the importance of interpersonal knowledge between the teacher and each student if contextual awareness is to be effective in terms of inclusion, participation, wellbeing and good learning outcomes for all students. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Democratic Education in History: Ethics, Justice, and the Politics of Recognition T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lytje, Maren PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 62 EP - 83 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - democratic education KW - justice KW - identity politics KW - powerful knowledge KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Democratic education is a controversial category in Denmark, particularly in the subject discipline of history: should we familiarize students with Danish culture and history, focus on their personal development and the art of living, or help them acquire skills for the labor market? These questions are related to the ethics of democracy and ask us to consider the “good life” and how we might recognize the valuable citizen. In this essay I argue that the ethics of democracy reduces democratic education to identity politics and eschews the question of democratic justice. In addressing this problem, I ask two questions: 1) How can we conceive of recognition in the educational setting as an issue of justice?, and 2) How can this conception be institutionalized as a curriculum principle? To address these questions, I first discuss Nancy Fraser’s status model of recognition and her three-dimensional theory of justice as it intersects with the subject discipline of history. I then discuss the conception of powerful knowledge in relation to the three-dimensional model, and finally I provide a list of suggestions for the knowledge content appropriate for democratic education in the subject discipline of history.    ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Citizenship education, national identity and political trust: The case of Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lödén, Hans PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 116 EP - 136 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - citizenship education KW - national identity KW - political trust KW - democracy AB - The challenging effects of globalization upon the nation-state have been a recurrent theme in the social science discourse since the 1990’s. Nationally organized education is also seen as challenged by new demands originating from globalization. In this article it is argued that ‘nation-state’ and ‘national identity’ are highly relevant concepts when discussing a citizenship education that seeks to develop a civic ethos with, potentially, a global reach. It is further argued that the understanding of such an ethos would benefit significantly from incorporating the role of political trust since trust has been identified as a main feature of the social capital that makes democracy work. Three themes are brought together: national identity and identification, the importance for democracy of political trust and the challenges citizenship education face when carried out in a national context but intended to manage issues that go far beyond the reach of the nation-state. The importance of citizenship education is discussed using recent research on the Swedish citizenship education classroom. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Forskarskolan CSD-FL (Centrum för de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik - Forskarskolan för lärare), Karlstads universitet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lödén, Hans PY - 2011 VL - 2 SP - 89 EP - 90 LA - swe PB - CSD - Karlstads universitet ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Recension av Carina Holmqvist Lidhs licentiatuppsats Representera och bli representerad T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lödén, Hans PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 97 EP - 101 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vetenskaplig litteratur om internationell migration – en introduktion och diskussion T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lödén, Hans PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 1 EP - 16 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - internationell migration KW - kraftfull kunskap KW - analysnivå KW - nätverk KW - push-pull KW - kvinnors roll KW - religion AB - : International migration is one of the defining issues of our time. In this introduction to scientific texts on migration it is argued that teaching on migration in teacher training and in secondary and upper secondary school would benefit from the conscious use of the concept of powerful knowledge when texts are selected. Thus, about 30 peer-reviewed texts in English, Swedish and Norwegian on international migration are referred to and discussed from the point of view of powerful knowledge. Five concepts or perspectives are suggested as important and useful. These are push-pull as explanation to migration; levels of analysis; network; the role of women in migration and the role of religion in migration. Further, the tension between the positions of an alleged ‘methodological nationalism’ and the national characteristics of migration are discussed. Among the suggested concepts ‘levels of analysis’ and ‘network’ are proposed as especially important in order to develop powerful knowledge. Both concepts are highly useful in order to give teachers and students some structure and order in the studied issue while the concepts also can be re-contextualized to and used within other issue areas.         ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Can, and should history give ethical guidance? Swedish and Finnish Grade 9 students on moral judgment-making in history T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan A1 - Ammert, Niklas A1 - Sharp, Heather A1 - Edling, Silvia PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 88 EP - 114 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - moral education KW - moral judgment KW - finland KW - sweden KW - holocaust KW - lower secondary school KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - innovative learning AB - History is often invested with moral messages. When asked what history for them is, 15-year-old Europeans have strongly supported the option that history is instructive stories of good and evil, right and wrong. But what do they actually think of the potential of history as a moral guide? Do they think history can communicate what was, or would have been, the morally good choice of action in specific historic circumstances? Do they think moral questions should be discussed in a History classroom? Do young people in different countries answer these questions in the same way, and if there are differences, what are they? This paper aims to give some answers to these questions, using Swedish and Finnish Year 9 students’ responses from a survey and interviews that focused on their reasoning on moral questions in relation to history, and their ability to deal with moral dilemmas situated in a historical context. The focus is on how the students see historical knowledge as different from, or related to, moral judgment and what patterns are discernable in this respect. This is done by analysing what functions the students give to history and what arguments they use in justifying the answer. The data provides an opportunity to locate similarities and differences between Finnish and Swedish students’ responses. Tentative conclusions on the basis of the findings are discussed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Can and should history give ethical guidande?: Finnish and Swedish grade 9 students on moral judgement-making in history T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan A1 - Ammert, Niklas A1 - Sharp, Heather A1 - Edling, Silvia PY - 2020 IS - 4 SP - 88 EP - 114 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstad University KW - history education KW - historia med didaktisk inriktning AB - History is often invested with moral messages. When asked what history for them is, 15-year-old Europeans have strongly supported the option that history is instructive stories of good and evil, right and wrong. But what do they actually think of the potential of history as a moral guide? Do they think history can communicate what was, or would have been, the morally good choice of action in specific historic circumstances? Do they think moral questions should be discussed in a History classroom? Do young people in different countries answer these questions in the same way, and if there are differences, what are they? This paper aims to give some answers to these questions, using Swedish and Finnish Year 9 students’ responses from a survey and interviews that focused on their reasoning on moral questions in relation to history, and their ability to deal with moral dilemmas situated in a historical context. The focus is on how the students see historical knowledge as different from, or related to, moral judgment and what patterns are discernable in this respect. This is done by analysing what functions the students give to history and what arguments they use in justifying the answer. The data provides an opportunity to locate similarities and differences between Finnish and Swedish students’ responses. Tentative conclusions on the basis of the findings are discussed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2015:4 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan A1 - Tani, Sirpa PY - 2015 VL - 2015 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2016:2: Does the future of subject didactics look darker than its past? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan A1 - Tani, Sirpa PY - 2016 VL - 2016 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mot interkulturella färdigheter? De utomeuropeiska samhällenas historia i finländska gymnasiets läroplansgrunder, läroböcker och studentexamen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 66 EP - 85 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - intercultural history teaching KW - upper secondary school AB - There is since 2003 an optional history course, Meeting of cultures (Kulturmöten), in the Finnish National Core Curricula for upper secondary schools. The course discusses the history of non-European societies. Some of the learning objectives can be criticised for reproducing a static picture of culture and cultural regions and for emphasising the competence to identify cultural differences rather than similarities. How images of cultural difference are constructed and what social implications and political uses they have is ignored in the objectives. The article analyses the curricula, the textbooks, and the matriculation examination questions relating to the course. It discusses, partly from an insider perspective, how the connections between curricula, textbooks and high-stakes test limit the possibility to redirect the approach in the course. It argues there has been little space in the course for reflexive analyses of the production and uses of cultural difference. Yet recent minor changes in the core curriculum may push textbook authors and exam constructors to a new fruitful direction when interpreting the objectives and contents in the core curriculum. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2 Nordidactica 2019:3 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2019 VL - 2019 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2020 3 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2020 VL - 2020 LA - nno PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2019:4: Kjerneelementer og store ideer/Core Elements and Big Ideas T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2019 VL - 2019 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2019:4 Core Elements and Big Ideas T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2019 VL - 2019 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2020:1 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Banschbach Eggen, Renate W. A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2020 VL - 2020 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial/Oaivečálus Nordidactica 2019:2 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Madsen, Roar A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla PY - 2019 VL - 2019 LA - nno PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Student teachers’ viewpoints of the current RE solution and how RE should be profiled in the future in Finland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Malama, Mia PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 70 EP - 86 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education (re) KW - secular ethics KW - the finnish re model KW - student teachers KW - religious studies and theology AB - This study focuses on Finnish student teachers’ viewpoints of the current RE model and their views on how RE should be profiled in the future. The idea of this article is to formulate possible models to organize RE in Finland based on the data gathered by student teachers. The topic is very timely and urgent as Religious Education (hence RE) has been fiercely debated in different European countries. There have also been debates about the function and profile of, and the most suitable model for, RE in Finland. The data of this study consist of 149 essays written by 35 student teachers studying in a class-teacher program and 114 teacher students studying in a subject-teacher program. The data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The main research questions are: 1. What kinds of strengths and challenges do student teachers see in the current RE solution? 2. What kinds of RE-models would they prefer in the future? 3. According to them, what kinds of model scenarios could be formulated? Many student teachers prefer a model where RE is taught both according to an individual’s faith as well as collectively, irrespective of the individual students’ faiths. Could this kind of combination model take into account the strengths of both models (the current and joint models) and at the same time correct the problems associated with these models? ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Contingency and transformation. Teachers’ and students’ experiences of a Climate Council School Project T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Manni, Annika PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 20 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - education for sustainable development KW - transformative education KW - case study KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper presents a case study of a Climate Council School project within education for sustainable development (ESD). Students and their teachers from grade 9 and upper secondary school took part in this project when working on finding sustainable visions and solutions for their city in 2030. The project involved the local government as well as businesspeople, since they all met and shared sustainable visions at the climate council conference. Drawing on transformative learning theories, the case is studied and analysed from both teacher and student perspectives. Educational challenges as well as new possibilities are documented outcomes through the participants’ experiences in this school project aiming for sustainability. Initial contingency, in relation to the complex content and new ways of teaching, is found to be a presumption for learning as creative work, transformation, and new ideas contributing to a more sustainable society. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Elevers vurdering av politikeres bruk av sosiale medier i et postfakta-samfunn og implikasjoner for samfunnsfaget T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mathé, Nora E. H. A1 - Elstad, Eyvind PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 71 EP - 96 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - politics KW - social studies KW - fake news KW - youth KW - post-factual society KW - samhällskunskap AB - In the age of political confrontation the public is at times presented with statements in the media that are less than truthful. At the same time, social media create new arenas for political communication. These trends implicate that today’s students need to develop critical awareness, but also experience with factual argumentation about political issues to develop political understanding and their own viewpoints. The purpose of this article is to explore how Norwegian 16-17-year-old students perceive and evaluate some examples of politicians’ communication in social media, and to discuss the need for social studies to provide students with sufficient prerequisites for meeting an ever-changing future. We make use of theory on rational behaviour as well as theory on deliberative and radical democracy to shed light on the student data. The analysis shows that the students are critical of politicians’ use of social media. Further, they judge their own information evaluation abilities too positively. Implications for social studies are discussed: Students should practice political discussion and argumentation and the focus on critical analysis of political communication should be further strengthened. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Instrumentalist theory for the sake of coherence: Norwegian students’ views on campus lectures in social studies teacher education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Meling, Ådne PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 95 EP - 111 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - teacher education KW - social studies KW - instrumentalism KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Norwegian five-year integrated social studies teacher education programmes include comprehensive training in disciplines such as geography, history, sociology and political science. In this article, we report on a study of students’ views on the specific subject of social studies in the teacher education programmes. We conducted focus group interviews with students and asked for their reflections on their preferences for the theoretical campus training in social studies. In our case study comprising 23 student teachers in their third year of training, most of the participants thought their campus training should focus less on core subjects such as geography, history, sociology and political science and more on instrumental skills such as lesson planning in social studies. Many of the participants held the view that the social studies competence they brought with them from secondary school should be considered sufficient and that further training in social studies during campus lectures should be considered redundant. Moreover, some participants suggested that acquiring knowledge in geography, history, sociology and political science, which are the core subjects of social studies, should be the responsibility of the students themselves rather than of the teacher training programme. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Colonialist "discoveries" in Finnish school textbooks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mikander, Pia PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 48 EP - 65 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - colonialism KW - textbook research AB - The article focuses on the descriptions of colonial events in Finnish history textbooks for comprehensive school (basic education). This includes the descriptions of "voyages of discovery" and the treatment of the indigenous people in America. The article analyses articulations in the textbooks and describes three discourses supporting the hegemonic idea that people in the "West" are superior to "others." The first discourse shows that the images of explorers as heroes and colonized peoples as exotic objects still endure, even though some textbooks include stories written from the point of view of the oppressed people. The second discourse concerns justified violence as part of colonialism, while the third discourse focuses on the textbook lessons that are taught through the study of colonialism. It also portrays Western knowledge as the only relevant knowledge. These representations of colonialism do not necessarily teach students about its horrors as much as about colonial techniques. The article also discusses the role of textbooks regarding education about colonialism and proposes alternative starting points for the study of colonialism and its implications today. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Non-human animals in Finnish worldview education textbooks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mikander, Pia A1 - Zilliacus, Harriet A1 - Wolff, Lili-Ann A1 - Kallioniemi, Arto PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 139 EP - 160 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - worldview education KW - non-human animals KW - religion KW - textbooks KW - discourse analysis KW - comprehensive school grades 1-2 KW - finland KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Education plays a key role in ethical development, and worldview education emphasizes ethical questions. Ethical discussions within education about the treatment of non-human animals are urgently needed. In Finland, worldview education is a compulsory subject, introduced to students from the first year of school. In this study, we turn to Finnish educational material on worldview instruction groups for Lutheran, Orthodox and Islam religion and for the secular subject Culture, Worldview and Ethics for grades 1-2 to ask how non-human animals, and the relation between humans and non-human animals, are portrayed. The article provides a Finnish perspective on animal ethics in worldview education. Through discourse analysis, we examine how humans’ relations with non-human animals are presented in educational materials. We find a dominant discourse of human-animal separation, where humans are portrayed as capable of thinking and feeling, in contrast to non-sentient animals. Non-human animals are presented as utility animals that supply human needs, being used for labour and for food, constructing the consumption of non-human animals as food as natural. We discuss the challenging intertwined discourses of care, protection and utility of non-human animals and call for a stronger focus on animal ethics within worldview education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lärarstudenters ekonomididaktiska kunskapsutveckling i samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Modig, Niclas PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 23 EP - 45 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - social studies KW - pedagogical content knowledge KW - student teachers KW - teacher education KW - transformation AB - The focus of this article is on how civics/social studies student teachers develop in their ability of transforming theoretical knowledge into pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). It does so by exploring how the student teachers transform economic theory into teaching economics to pupils in primary, secondary, and upper secondary education. The study draws its findings and conclusions on qualitative in-depth interviews with four student teachers in civics/social studies. The main conclusions are that the student teachers develop PCK like a process depending on theoretical and practical studies, and that they develop both didactical skills and knowledge that influence their teaching. However the study also shows that the student teachers’ individual PCK are rather weakly developed after taking the courses. One further conclusion is that the topic of economics is perceived to be difficult to teach, however the ‘difficulty’, lies within the many concepts used and how these are interrelated with each other. As a result of these findings the article discusses the role of using threshold concepts in the context of teaching and learning economics. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - "Social Issues Open up Social Studies": Upper Secondary Teachers´Conceptions of, and Didactical Reflections upon the Subject T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Morén, Göran PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 24 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - social studies KW - social issues KW - teaching KW - upper secondary school KW - utbildning och lärande AB - This article identifies and discusses conceptions of the Swedish school subject social studies in upper secondary school through an empirical study consisting of qualitative interviews with seven teachers of social studies. The curriculum declares that teaching social studies shall be done with “social issues as the point of departure”. The analysis focuses on the teachers’ didactical reflections on the subject specific concept of social issues in relation to their own teaching practice. Conclusions that are made are that the approach of teaching social studies with ‘social issues as the  point of departure’ leads to conceptions of social studies as being a subject that is open to the unexpected and that transcends its borders, and with its purpose seen as its content, or put differently: the ‘what’ defined through, or as, its ‘why’. It seems more relevant to discuss what the social issues, as a didactical concept, do to the subject rather than what they are. The very quest for a certain core in the subject is being challenged. A reflection on these results leads to a discussion on the potential intrinsic value of social issues in teaching social studies.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Nationalist historiography, Nation-state making and Secondary School History: Curriculum Policy in Zimbabwe 1980-2010 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Moyo, Nathan PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 1 EP - 23 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD karlstad KW - school history KW - historiography KW - nation-state KW - nationalist history KW - patriotic history and zimbabwe AB - This paper studies the curriculum policy trajectories that have characterized the teaching of secondary school History as a subject that is historically enmeshed in the politics of nation-state making in post-independence Zimbabwe. Through content analysis, the paper examines the ways in which the post-independence History syllabi, namely 2166 and 2167, have drawn from recent historiographies to frame both the aims and content of school History. The argument developed is that both syllabi have been deployed to serve the envisaged nation-state project; with Syllabus 2166 associated with the socialist nation-state project of the 1980s and 2167 with patriotic history since 2000. The paper concludes that such (mis)uses of school are not unique to Zimbabwe, but represent the political instrumentalization of school History that has become prevalent throughout the world. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ett relevant, intresseväckande, faktabetonat och diskussionsorienterat ämne: Finländska klasslärare talar om sin undervisning i samhällslära T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mård, Nina PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 1 EP - 25 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällslära KW - samhällskunskap KW - klasslärare KW - finländsk grundskola KW - undervisning KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Social studies was introduced as a school subject in Finnish upper primary grades (4-6) by the current national curricula for comprehensive education 2014. Previously, social studies was taught only in grades 7-9 in the Finnish comprehensive school. The Finnish primary school teachers have by now taught social studies for some years. In this article, the research interest is focused on how five Finnish primary school teachers perceive social studies as a school subject and how they describe their teaching in social studies. The investigation is grounded in Berlin-didactic theory and uses its structural and factor analysis to identify the teachers’ views on aims, content, methods, and media for social studies in primary education, as well as their personal approaches towards the subject. Data was collected in early spring 2022, and the material is analysed through an abductive thematic analysis. The results show that all five teachers supported social studies teaching in upper primary education, as the subject deals with the society surrounding the pupils. Overall, the teachers seemed to have embraced the new teaching assignment of social studies with engagement and enthusiasm. Social studies in the teachers’ practice was characterized as a fact-based subject, dealing with micro-perspectives on society. The textbook functioned as a primary teaching source and discussions as the central teaching method. The age, previous knowledge and questions of their students were central factors determining the teachers’ didactical choices of content and methods. The analysis reveals several potential research areas for further investigation in Finnish primary social studies education, such as teaching economics and tools for dealing with societal conflicts in a more analytical way. Overall, the discussion of what constitutes the core of social studies in Finnish primary education needs to be further addressed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällslära i ämnesintegrerad undervisning – En fallstudie av finländska klasslärares praktik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mård, Nina PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 88 EP - 114 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - samhällslära KW - ämnesintegrerad undervisning KW - klasslärare KW - företagsamhet KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The Finnish national curriculum of 2014 made multidisciplinary education mandatory in primary education. Furthermore, social studies was introduced as a new school subject in upper primary education. This case study investigates how five Finnish primary school teachers implement social studies and multidisciplinary approaches within a shared project on ‘Entrepreneurship’. Data was collected by interviewing the teachers and observing their practice. The study is theoretically framed around concepts of multidisciplinary education and social studies didactics. Through a thematic analysis, the results reveal that the teachers intended to foster students’ entrepreneurial competence through theoretical knowledge and practical training. Their teaching practice included both subject matter content from the social studies curriculum, other disciplinary perspectives (from visual arts, Swedish (L1) and literature, history, mathematics, and home economics), and interdisciplinary entrepreneurial skills. The social studies content was taught through methods of teacher-led lectures on facts, discussions, and practical preparations for work life. Despite their practice, the teachers did not acknowledge disciplinary perspectives as important in their teaching. The results are discussed in relation to the multidisciplinary nature of the primary school teacher profession, and the lack of a social studies teaching tradition in Finnish primary education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Between stability and contingency: A case study of the social, political and fantasmatic logics of Swedish history classroom practice T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Mårdh, Andreas PY - 2019 VL - 1 SP - 132 EP - 155 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - history didactics KW - classroom practice KW - political dimension KW - logics KW - education AB - This study explores the political and ideological workings of history classroom practices enacted in the context of Swedish upper secondary education. Using the post-structuralist logics of critical explanation framework (Glynos & Howarth, 2007), the paper reports on a series of video-recorded observations and outlines the discursive logics found to constitute the studied practices. At the heart of the analysis are the socially shared assumptions, political relationships of us-and-them, and ideological narratives that alternately furnish the history classroom practices with stability and contingency. The results encompass three case-specific logics: (I) a social logic demonstrating that the stability of the studied classroom practices rests on shared assumptions about historical idealism and partial progress, (II) a political logic indicating that the classroom practices are unsettled when students establish temporal equivalence between past and present us-and-them relationships, and (III) a fantasmatic logic showing that teachers and students become ideologically invested in said practices through narratives emphasizing the need to prevent the repetition of past injustices. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Drama – viktig resurs eller hämmare för undervisningen i samhällskunskap? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Möllenborg, Evelina A1 - Holmberg, Kristina PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 97 EP - 115 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - drama KW - discourse analysis KW - upper secondary school KW - samhällskunskap AB - The aim of this article is to discuss and problematize how teachers in civics in upper secondary school construct drama, and how it relates to teaching, and students’ knowledge formation in civics. A study like this is important as the aesthetic subjects are becoming more prominent in young people’s everyday life at the same time as school by recent reformations is increasing the adjustment to efficiency and measurability. The theoretical framework is built on discursive psychology, which emanates from social constructionist and poststructuralist theory. Data consists of interviews with four upper secondary teachers in civics. Findings show that drama can be a valuable resource for teaching and learning civics, but also a problem when it comes to assessment. The position of the student as an object, teaching as entertainment and the domination of text is also discussed and problematized. Findings are considered as problematic as drama in civics, in relation to assessment, rather enhances a text-focused three-subject school than offering an alternative challenge ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Videnskabsteoretisk refleksion som grundlaget for tværfagligt arbejde i almen studieforberedelse T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nedenskov Petersen, Esben A1 - Schaffalitzky de Muckadell, Caroline PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 21 EP - 40 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - videnskabsteori KW - tværfaglighed AB - One of the courses in Danish upper secondary school is the course ongeneral study preparation (called AT). It is stated in the national policy document of this course, that students must demonstrate understanding of scientific thinking and consider basic philosophical questions relating to the methodology of the sciences and humanities. However, as we argue, there is great risk that students are unable to connect philosophical/epistemological reflections with the use of scientific and academic methods. So, the question is how philosophy of science and the humanities can be integrated into general study preparation in a way that is natural and productive in relation to the embedded interdisciplinary approach of this course. To help meet this challenge, we have developed a philosophical approach that offers this integration by acting as a general framework for students' work on their so-called AT projects. This framework, which we call the basic scientific and academic model, is based on the general fundamental elements of academic studies. The purpose of the model is to make the overall features of the scientific approach concrete in a way that provides students with a basic understanding of academic thinking, which is a prerequisite for the interdisciplinary academic goals. Accordingly, the article's main focus is on the didactic challenge specifically related to the teaching of AT-course in Danish upper secondary school. However, we conclude by suggesting, that the basic scientific model could in fact be applied in the dissemination of philosophy of science outside the context of the AT-discipline as well. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Students’ Understanding of Historical Sources – A Composite Ability T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nersäter, Anders PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 105 EP - 131 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical thinking KW - historical sources KW - evidence KW - source- critical criteria KW - student ideas KW - critical aspects AB - This paper investigates what students need to learn, to be able to interpret and evaluate sources, in relation to specific subject matter addressing Imperialism and Decolonization. The History-didactical framework used stems from the Historical Thinking tradition and the method applied is a textual analysis informed by theoretical assumptions originating from Variation theory. Data is derived from assignments generated in two Learning Studies undertaken in a Swedish upper secondary school. Specific aspects were identified as critical for our students’ ability to handle the sources in a composite manner. On a more general level results indicate that the application of source-criticism only in the form of source-critical criteria is not the ideal choice, since their design not necessarily seem to encourage students to interpret and evaluate sources from a composite standpoint. A proposal given is that the development of students’ ability to handle historical sources might benefit if Swedish history instruction adopted elements associated with the second order concept of evidence and allowed such practices to complement usage of  source-critical criteria. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Elevers komplekse identitetskrav som utfordring i religions- og livssynsundervisning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nicolaisen, Tove PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 1 EP - 21 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - identity claims KW - religious education KW - normality constructs KW - intersectionality KW - hindus in norway KW - religious studies and theology AB - In Religious Education (RE), religious identity is usually considered to be important. When the common mandatory Norwegian RE subject was implemented in 1997, an aim was to support the identities of the children, based on their background in a religious or secular tradition. In this article, I question this simplification concerning identity and explore whether intersectionality can be a more nuanced and empowering approach. Findings from a project about Hindu children’s experiences with RE in Norway indicate that the intersection of religion, culture, language, ethnicity, nationality and family is the focal point of children’s identity claims. I give examples of the children’s self-understandings and challenges. They rooted their self-understandings in the values of the transnational family, diasporic experiences and ethnicity. Religion was important as part of the family’s cultural luggage, which included strong ties to their countries of origin. In spite of this, in RE they were often labeled in accordance with their specific religious tradition. The article discusses how RE approaches to identity can avoid restricting identity to externally imposed categories, and instead being sensitive to the lived experiences of the children and their own identity claims. How can RE teaching meet children’s diverse and fluid identity claims and deal with religion as part of a complex cultural context? ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pluralistisk religionsundervisning og egengjøring som ideal. Hva kan vi lære av erfaringene til barn med hindubakgrunn? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nicolaisen, Tove PY - 2013 VL - 2 SP - 115 EP - 141 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - hindu children KW - pluralistic religious education KW - agency and othering KW - normality constructs in re KW - religious studies and theology AB - The aim of this article is to contribute to the development of a more pluralistic Religious Education. The Norwegian RE teaching in state schools is meant to be "objective, critical and pluralistic". A project about Hindu children’s experiences with the Norwegian subject "Religion, Philosophies of Life and Ethics" revealed constructs of normality in Religious Education. These normality constructs are based on Western ideas about religion. The findings from the project provide specific knowledge of the children's agency, but this knowledge has also raised critical questions about normality constructs and laid the groundwork for a larger discussion of issues related to children and religious education more generally. The article presents some of the children’s experiences, including the concept of religion, concepts of the divine and the relation between faith and religious practice. The analyses revealed that the children often represented an alternative or oppositional discourse and that the children's positioning themselves could challenge "RE-normality" by representing inclusive attitudes to other religions, expressing complex understandings of the divine and representing approaches to religious practice that differed from the dominant discourse. From this point of departure the article discusses approaches that can contribute to a more pluralistic and fair teaching and avoid othering and exoticism. The approaches are inspired by Homi Bhabha’s "third space", Edward Soja’s "spatial theory", "visual culture" from art history, narrative theory and dialogical approaches. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Forberedende bemærkninger til en eksistensdidaktik inden for undervisningsemnet etik i kristendomskundskab i den danske grundskole T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nielsen, Carla PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 13 LA - dan PB - CSD : CSD Karlstad KW - existencial ethics KW - religious education KW - hartmut rosa KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The paper addresses ethics education, which is a compulsory part of the subject Christianity (kristendomskundskab) in the Danish public school (primary and lower secondary education). It will be argued that an existential content related to religion and ethics is essential for the students understanding of what it means to be a human being in the world. The paper draws on Hartmut Rosa’s concepts of the ‘uncontrollable’ and ‘resonance’, which offer an existential perspective on modern man’s possible way of relating to the world. The paper outlines the purpose of teaching ethics and discusses the tension between the religious dimension, curriculum objectives, and general education.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historie i konkurrencestaten T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nielsen, Carsten Tage PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 102 EP - 119 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - curriculum KW - politics of memory and identity KW - theory of state KW - politics of education AB - History in the Competition State This article focuses on the subject History in the Danish compulsory school from the perspective of the Competition State. The Competition State is a conceptualization of the state in the age of globalization developed by the Danish economist Ove Kaj Pedersen. The leading idea is that states compete internationally on competences, knowledge and development where competitiveness is the political raison d’etre. All areas of politics are subordinated to the logic of the Competition State where especially education becomes an important strategic field. The normative basis of the Competition State is economic sustainability and personal employability, and the role of education is to qualify and motivate to work. The article shows how the values of the Competition State have influenced the latest revision of the curriculum, and discusses how history didactics is interwoven with this development. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Symboliska och politiska gränser i historieundervisning. Utmaningar för interkulturell historiefostran: Editorial 2015:3 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nielsen, Carsten Tage A1 - Eliasson, Per A1 - Gullberg, Tom A1 - Hammarlund, KG A1 - Kvande, Lise A1 - Löfström, Jan PY - 2015 VL - 2015 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historieundervisning och identitet i det mångkulturella samhället T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nielsen, Laila PY - 2013 VL - 2 SP - 38 EP - 64 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - educational strategies KW - identity KW - multicultural society KW - school policies AB - In a Swedish context multicultural research is a field of research in progress where much remains to be done, not least central for identity issues is studies about history teaching. The multicultural society challenges over the past two decades have clearly been intertwined with increased socioeconomic disparities. Out from a deteriorated equivalence in Swedish schools the teachers face increasingly large differences regarding students' potential, motivation and school results. The purpose of the article is to, on the basis of current Swedish and Anglo-Saxon research in this area, present an analysis tool of four possible strategies for teaching in the multicultural Society. The practical use of the analysis tool will be discussed by comparing the four strategies with the experiences from seven history teachers. The article has three starting points for such a discussion: The article begins with a brief account of some socio-economic and educational policy changes that have taken place in the Swedish school system in the past decades. After an Anglo-Saxon and Swedish research review, follows an account of the four strategies that make up the analysis tool. The article is concluded by a description and discussion of seven upper secondary school teachers’ experiences from teaching history to students with different identities and conditions in the multicultural society. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religionsvetenskapliga tröskelbegrepp: stötestenar och språngbrädor vid utvecklingen av ett ämnesperspektiv T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Niemi, Kristian PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 22 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - threshold concepts KW - religious education KW - world religion paradigm KW - lived religion KW - sweden KW - higher education KW - subject specific didactics KW - tröskelbegrepp KW - religionsundervisning KW - världsreligionparadigm KW - levande religion KW - sverige KW - högskolepedagogik KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - religionsdidaktik KW - religious studies and theology AB - To master an academic discipline is challenging, and different scientific disciplines pose particular challenges to the novice, or beginner, that approach the subject. Threshold concepts has proven to be a pedagogically fruitful framework, related to the gradual mastering of a subject-specific perspective. The article introduces the framework, followed by an overview of how threshold concepts have been used in research of the field of religious education. Previous research has primarily been concerned with confessional RE. The discussion is broadened to a Swedish university context through empirical material (interview and survey) of students from History of Religion. It is argued that lived religion, world religion paradigm, emic/etic, and orthodoxy/orthopraxy could be threshold concepts in this context. As such, they could be considered as keys unlocking the academic subject of History of Religion. The education given might be improved by considering the threshold concepts in course planning and teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Going Digital? Geography Education in Swedish Secondary School T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nilsson, Sofie A1 - Bladh, Gabriel PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 115 EP - 141 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geography teaching KW - digital tools KW - subject-specific digital tools KW - digital competence KW - teachers’ knowledge base KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In this article we explore teachers’ view of what secondary geography education implies in a digital teaching and learning environment. Based on a regional survey with subject teachers (n=47) in the Swedish county of Värmland, this study relies on theories of teachers’ professional management competences. The survey revolves around two broad themes: the teachers’ personal relation to the subject and geography teaching in relation to digitalisation. One main interest of the study was to find out what digital tools and subject-specific digital tools are used when teaching certain aspects of geography. Overall, managing geographical methods and analysis (for example executing field studies) stands out as the geographical aim that challenges teachers’ professional management. The usage of digital tools and subject-specific digital tools, such as GIS, varies in geography education, but when dealing with more complex subject content, the usage of subject-specific tools tends to be less frequent.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Thinking Geographically? Secondary Teachers’ Curriculum Thinking when Using Subject-Specific Digital Tools T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nilsson, Sofie A1 - Bladh, Gabriel PY - 2022 VL - 2022 SP - 171 EP - 203 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - case study KW - geography teaching KW - secondary school KW - geographical thinking KW - subject-specific digital tools KW - knowledge base KW - tpack KW - gati KW - secondary education KW - geography KW - geografi KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In this paper we explore Swedish secondary social science teachers’ curriculum thinking when they engage in constructing lesson plans with the purpose to develop students’ geographical thinking while conducting geographical analyses with subject-specific digital tools (SSDTs). Framed as a case study with a workshop design, a group of secondary social science teachers constructed lesson plans that were implemented with their students. Different data were collected during the case study process, such as a survey, recorded workshops, written lesson plans and reflection documents. The findings were analysed based on a synthetic model of geographical thinking and the Graphical Assessment of TPACK Instrument, GATI, in order to consider teachers’ professional knowledge base. The results indicated that most of the teachers engaged in geographical thinking when planning the lessons, but there is an imbedded difficulty in the transformation of such thinking into lesson plans and student instructions. The knowledge base, displayed as their personal GATI models, differed among the teachers and integrating of SSDTs in the lesson plans turned out to be a threshold. Teachers with less technological knowledge did not manage to construct lesson plans even though their content knowledge was solid. Similarly, teachers with a less developed geographical knowledge base did not manage to integrate geographical thinking in their lesson plans. This implies that the integration between the different aspects of the knowledge base is crucial alongside developing each knowledge. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - De svenska romernas historia i SO-klassrummet: En designstudie på högstadiet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nolgård, Olle PY - 2022 VL - 4 IS - 12 SP - 154 EP - 187 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads universitet KW - history education KW - difficult histories KW - historical justice KW - human rights KW - the romani KW - national minorities KW - historieundervisning KW - historisk rättvisa KW - mänskliga rättigheter KW - nationella minoriteter KW - curriculum studies AB - In light of the desire to right past wrongs regarding Swedish Roma history, research has called for a stronger focus on state redress and the challenges and opportunities of focusing on reconciliation in history education practice. As an answer to that call, this design-based study builds on theories concerning the complexities of teaching and learning about historical justice and difficult histories and investigates how secondary school students make sense of the difficult Swedish Romani history in the Social Studies classroom.  Analysing pre- and post-tests, classroom observations and student exams, the study found that the students were capable of combining historical and practical perspectives in their narrative reconstructions of the Roma past, present and future.  This was mainly done through: critical historical thinking, contextualization, an awareness of different manifestations of antigypsyism in the past and present, and lived experience of antigypsyism, whilst also acknowledging the importance of a shared responsibility for Roma rights in the present and displaying an optimistic view on the Swedish Roma future. Altogether, the results indicate that this approach may foster a nuanced multiperspectival understanding of the past among young learners, informed by both historical and practical perspectives. These findings also shed new light on how we may overcome some of the challenges related to reconciliation in history education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Our Migration History: Documenting Immigrant Lived Experiences in Norway Using an Inclusive Participatory Approach T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Normand, Linn A1 - Walsh-Knarvik, Kimble PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 27 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - migration KW - minority-majority perspectives KW - deficit perspective KW - inclusive participatory research KW - norway KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper examines the inclusion/exclusion of immigrants’ perspectives and lived experiences in the teaching and learning of social studies at Norwegian upper secondary schools. Its aim is to expose the so-called minority ‘blindspots’ and ‘deficit’ perspectives that exist within the hegemonic discourse of the Norwegian educational system (more specifically, within classroom climate, school books and the national curriculum). It asks: How can we develop an educational in-class workshop that highlights the ‘blindspots’ of hegemonic narratives and targets the ‘deficit’ perspectives of immigration? How might such a workshop provide a basis for student learning that is more mindful of minority perspectives and narratives? With these questions in mind, the paper presents ‘Our Migration History’ - a community-based participatory project developed in collaboration with a team of researchers at the University of Stavanger, school teachers and pupils at two local high-schools, and the local cultural history museum of Stavanger. The paper outlines the project's learning objectives, inclusive pedagogy and lesson plans with a view to addressing the need, motivation and rationale for this type of workshop model. Our goal is to showcase how pupils in Norwegian social studies classes can be introduced to research and included in the learning process as an essential resource to help document and voice lived experiences of immigration. The paper is therefore relevant to both the research- and practical/pedagogical fields. It carves out educational spaces which highlight often neglected immigrants’ perspectives – so called ‘blindspots’ - and reframes dominant ‘deficit’ perspectives of immigration by taking an inclusive strength-based approach. By sharing the content and pedagogical rationale of this inclusive community-based educational workshop model, we hope that educators are inspired to adopt similar hands-on and inclusive projects throughout the Nordic region. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kvalitativ forskjellsbehandling i fremstillingen av buddhisme og kristendom i lærebøker for faget Religion og etikk T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nyborg, Kai Arne PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 1 EP - 22 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religion education KW - representation KW - buddhism KW - norway KW - religious studies and theology AB - Qualitative unequal treatment in the presentation of Buddhism and Christianity in textbooks for the subject Religion and ethics. This article examines how Religion Education1 textbooks in Norwegian upper secondary school administer and maintain the principle of qualitative equal treatment of religions by analyzing and comparing the presentation of Buddhism and Christianity. Using a discursive approach, this study shows that Buddhism is treated qualitatively different from Christianity in the textbooks for the subject Religion and ethics. The textbooks’ understanding of the national context, the status of the majority religion, and assumptions about religion and culture in general, influence the representation of Buddhism. As textbooks have authoritative status as knowledge base for learning about diverse religions (Andreassen, 2014), and function as an important tool for the evaluation and grading of students, this study can have important consequences for upper secondary school religion education in Norway. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Digitala primärkällor i historieundervisningen: en utmaning för elevers historiska tänkande och historiska empati T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nygren, Thomas A1 - Sandberg, Karin A1 - Vikström, Lotta PY - 2014 VL - 2 SP - 208 EP - 245 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - digital KW - historieundervisning KW - elevuppfattningar KW - databaser KW - primärkällor KW - historiskt tänkande KW - historisk empati KW - ikt. KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education AB - In this study, 110 Swedish upper secondary students use a historical database designed for research. We analyze how they perceive the use of this digital tool in teaching and if they are able to use historical thinking and historical empathy in their historical writing and presentations. Using case-study methodology including questionnaires, observations, interviews and text analysis we find this to be a complex task for students. Our results highlight technological problems and problems in contextualizing historical evidence. However, students show interest in using primary sources and ability to use historical thinking and historical empathy, especially older students in more advanced courses when they have time to reflect upon the historical material. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - En splittrad historia: Sambandet mellan kursplaner i historia för gymnasieskola och högre utbildning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nygren, Thomas A1 - Åstrand, Björn PY - 2012 VL - 2 SP - 1 EP - 30 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - historieundervisning KW - högskola KW - gymnasieskola KW - kursplaner KW - historiedidaktik KW - didactics of history AB - This quantitative and qualitative analysis of syllabuses indicates difficulties in the relation between history teaching in upper secondary schools and in higher education. Using analytical tools stemming from research of education and history didactics we highlight problematic differences between universities. It is evident that history education in many ways lacks a progression from upper secondary school to higher education. Judging from the formulations in the syllabuses, the grading demands on the students in upper secondary schools are in some cases even higher than in the universities. The results from this study suggest a need for further analysis of the teaching of history, and other subjects, in higher education in relation to teaching in upper secondary schools. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hur motiverar gymnasieelever sina bedömningar av trovärdiga och vilseledande digitala nyheter? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nygren, Thomas A1 - Wiksten Folkeryd, Jenny A1 - Liberg, Caroline A1 - Guath, Mona PY - 2020 VL - 2 SP - 153 EP - 178 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - media and information literacy KW - digital literacy KW - fake news KW - critical thinking KW - social science education KW - curriculum studies AB - In this study, we investigate how ca. 400 students, age 16-19, determine the trustworthiness of false, biased and credible news. We examine their justifications of their assessments of the credibility with regard to the source (who?), the content (what?), the design (how?) and the underlying purposes (why?). We find that students’ patterns of justifications can be linked to different assessments. For example, students finding junk news credible may have special problems separating different kinds of sources. Students who fail to debunk a manipulated image often rely on what they see in the image in contrast to students who determine credibility upon what is not in the image. We also find that test-items used in previous research can be linked to aspects of civic online reasoning not identified in previous research. We identify complex potentials and pitfalls among students important for education and further research. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lärarstudenters ämnesdidaktiska reflektioner i geografi, historia, religion och samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nygren, Thomas A1 - Löfstedt, Malin A1 - Tväråna, Malin A1 - Kramming, Kajsa A1 - Bengtsson, Stefan A1 - Arrhenius, Mattias A1 - Thorp, Robert PY - 2022 VL - 3 IS - 12 SP - 122 EP - 148 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - teacher students KW - comparative subject didactics KW - social studies education KW - civics KW - geography KW - religion KW - lärarstudenter KW - komparativ ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - samhällskunskap KW - geografi KW - curriculum studies KW - subject-specific education AB - In this study we investigate subject didactic reflections of 183 teacher students in civics, history, geography or religion in primary, elementary or secondary schools. We ask teacher students to reflect on what they perceive to be important and difficult to teach in their subject and also what methods they think would be productive. A comparative content analysis shows that a majority of the teacher students view academic knowledge and skills as important and challenging to teach in their respective subjects, and pupil-centered methods as those that primarily should be used in teaching. We do, however, find significant differences between the four subjects, for example concerning focus on facts and teacher-centered methods versus attitudes and values and student-centered methods. The students’ subject didactic reflections indicate important insights about teaching but they generally lack insights into pupils’ subject specific difficulties and how different methods may be used to support pupils’ learning. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Social Studies Subjects and Interdisciplinarity T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nyström, Daniel PY - 2019 VL - 3 SP - 24 EP - 44 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - interdisciplinarity KW - comparative subject didactics KW - social studies KW - upper secondary school KW - civics KW - geography KW - religious education KW - heinz heckhausen KW - tvärvetenskaplighet KW - jämförande ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - gymnasieskolan KW - samhällskunskap KW - geografi KW - religionskunskap KW - education KW - subject-specific education AB - This article examines the ways in which the term tvärvetenskaplig is conceptualized within the social studies subjects (geography, religious education, civics, and history) in Swedish upper secondary school. The term tvärvetenskaplig is generally translated as interdisciplinary. Through a comparative analysis of syllabi (ämnesplaner), subject didactic textbooks, and schoolbooks, existing descriptions of the term are identified. These descriptions are in turn analyzed using theoretical perspectives on interdisciplinarity. The article agrees with the viewpoint that interdisciplinarity is a form of progressive discourse. Moreover, the analysis employs Heinz Heckhausen’s typology of interdisciplinarity, which differentiates between indiscriminate, pseudo, auxiliary, composite, supplementary, and unifying interdisciplinarity. It is concluded that different subjects ascribe different understandings of interdisciplinarity to the concept of tvärvetenskaplighet. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Social Studies Subjects and Intersectionality: Multi-Categorical Approaches in Upper Secondary Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nyström, Daniel PY - 2022 VL - 3 IS - 12 SP - 101 EP - 121 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - upper secondary education KW - social studies KW - intersectionality KW - gender mainstreaming KW - anti-discrimination KW - comparative subject didactics KW - subject-specific education AB - This article studies how the social studies subjects – civics, geography, history, and religious education – in Swedish upper secondary education describe and conceptualise the categories of gender, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. The background is that the syllabi stipulate that analytical perspectives based on these categories should be used to interpret subject-specific content. These categories connect implicitly and explicitly to intersectionality theory and to anti-discrimination policy making. Through a text analysis of syllabi and textbooks, the article revolves around the questions: What kind of multi-categorical approach is being constructed in the different social studies subjects? How does that relate to intersectionality theory? Is the purpose of a multi-categorical approach to fight against discrimination? The result shows that there are slightly different emphases being made depending on school subject. History and geography give priority to the category of gender, whereas civics and religious education present a more varied utilisation. All subjects employ a so-called additive intersectional model, where categories are treated separately. Civics and religious education include discussions of both identity constructions and structural factors. Geography and history focus mainly on a structural level. Religious education is the only subject that explicitly discusses intersectionality theory. To the extent that writings with an anti-discriminatory message occur, the message is often that it is important that the individual show respect and tolerance towards others.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Casting a Vote – Complexities and Strategies among "First –Time Voters" in their Approach to Elections T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nørgaard Kristensen, Niels A1 - Solhaug, Trond PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 1 EP - 19 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - political socialization/learning KW - voting KW - heuristics KW - rationalities KW - democracy AB - When asked directly, most young people show a relatively low level of political interest. Despite this, Scandinavian youth exhibit reasonable voter turnout compared to most countries. In this study of young Danish first-time voters, we elaborate the peculiarities of their political reasoning and orientations. We approach our analysis on the basis of rationalistic theories of voting as well as the use of heuristics in voting decisions. We also build on the theory of political socialization and voters’ loyalties to family in their decisions. Methodologically, we use the oral stories of ten students from upper secondary school on how they arrived at a voting decision. The article elaborates the decisions, paradoxes, and ambivalences which these young people display in the process of casting a vote. We claim that the individuals in our study handled this discrepancy by the active use of different strategies. Students particularly tried to simplify their choice of party by focusing on one or two important issues. They used strategic rationalism as well as value rationalism and idealistic approaches to decision-making. Above all, students used cognitive heuristics extensively. Generally, first-time voters often find themself in complex decisions facing an overload of information and sometimes trapped between loyalties, particularly to their families, but rarely to their social class. Based on our findings, we suggest that teachers should sometimes provide meaningful heuristics to guide students’ complex choices as first-time voters. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Party choice and family influence in the age of late modernity: Students`reflections as first-time voters in a Norwegian parliamentary election T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nørgaard Kristensen, Niels A1 - Solhaug, Trond PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 48 EP - 69 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - political identity KW - first-time voters KW - voter advice applications KW - participation KW - social studies KW - voter education AB - This paper analyses how young first-time voters reflect their sources of influence on when considering a choice of party as they approached the 2013 parliamentary elections in Norway. Party identification has traditionally been regarded as resulting from social (class) identity, occupation or professional belonging and family influence. This view led to the much tested hypothesis of transfer of political orientations from one generation to another (Jennings & Niemi, 1974). Later, scholars like Giddens (1991) and Beck (1986) argued that social and political orientations are first and foremost characterized by reflexivity. Based on this we hypothesize that young people’s choice of party is characterized by a search for their political selves. Analysing interviews of 28 students, we found considerable support for both hypotheses where the majority voiced a strong family influence. Both groups also emphasise their independence and need for self-reflections on their choices. What characterises most of these young voter’s process of finding a political party is self-reflection on influence from either family upbringing and/or influence from peers, media or school. We therefore propose that the hypotheses should be regarded as complementary rather than rival. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ämnesövergripande undervisning och betyg i årskurs 4-6 i svensk grundskola i SO- och NO-ämnena T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Olovsson, Tord Göran A1 - Näsström, Gunilla PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 88 EP - 117 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-integrated teaching KW - natural science KW - social studies KW - summarised grades KW - classification KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Sweden introduced a new national curriculum (Lgr11) for the compulsory school in 2011. It included new syllabi for the school subjects and a grading system now starting from school year 6. Social studies (civics, geography, history and religious studies) and natural sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) received syllabus with knowledge requirements for each respective subject. Despite the sectioning, Lgr11 encourages subject-integrated teaching and, when teaching has mainly been subject-integrated, summarised grades in both social studies and natural sciences are possible in school year 6. The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyse and compare to which extent teaching in school year 4-6 is subject-integrated and whether the grades in school year 6 are summarised in social studies as well as natural sciences. In the autumn of 2017, principals from 113 schools comprehending school years 4-6, completed a questionnaire. The results, also analysed in relation to Bernsteins theoretical model, show that teaching in each individual subject, as well as alternation between subject-integrated teaching and teaching in the individual subjects is most common. Fully subject-integrated teaching in social studies and nature sciences respectively is the least common practise. Three quarters of the schools give grades in the individual subjects. In schools with fully subject-integrated teaching, it is more common with summarised grades than grades in the individual subjects. However, this is more common in social studies than in the natural sciences. Almost all of the schools that teach in the individual subjects also give grades in the individual subjects. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Det oväntade i so-ämnenas undervisning: bjudningar till annat kunskapande och tillblivande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Olson, Maria PY - 2017 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 7 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads Universitet KW - det oväntade KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - undervisning KW - risk KW - utbildning och lärande KW - education and learning KW - individual and society vidsoc KW - subject learning and teaching AB - I detta temanummer riktar vi intresse mot So-ämnenas undervisning i skolan. Vi tar vår utgångspunkt i vad de flesta lärare vet, men kanske inte alltid finner tid, utrymme eller någon lämplig plattform att uttrycka. Nämligen att all undervisning, och i förlängningen all utbildning – av nödvändighet – är omhuldad av risk (Biesta 2013), av det som är oväntat. Ambitionen i artiklarna är inte i första hand att lyfta fram detta oväntade som en omständighet eller nödvändighet i allmän mening i utbildningssammanhang. Ambitionen är snarare att utifrån denna nödvändighet resa frågor till den dagliga undervisningen i de samhällsorienterade ämnena religionskunskap, samhällskunskap och historia, alternativt i so-undervisning generellt. Utifrån skilda empiriska, i högre eller lägre grad teoretiskt färgade ansatser, prövar vi att resa frågor som på olika sätt knyter an till vårt överordnade syfte i temanumret, vilket är att undersöka om, och i så fall vilka särskilda villkor eller bevekelsegrunder som kan tänkas prägla just de samhällsorienterade ämnenas undervisning, sett i ljuset av det oväntade som en potential, som möjlighet. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2017:2: Det oväntade i so-ämnenas undervisning - bjudningar till annat kunskapande och tillblivande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Olson, Maria PY - 2017 VL - 2017 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhälle och individ – En undersökning i samhällskunskapsdidaktik om elevers förståelse av nyhetshändelse T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Olsson, Roger PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 57 EP - 86 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - citizenship education KW - current events KW - students´understanding KW - societal and individual perspectives on current events KW - samhällskunskap AB - This article is the result of a study in citizenship education didactics, conducted in a class at an elementary school (14-15 year old students) and with an aim to examine students’ understanding of current events. The ability to balance societal perspectives on one hand and individual perspectives on the other hand, while interpreting current events, is perceived as a central civic democratic ability and an important dimension in citizenship education such as samhällskunskap. The ability to understand current events has been considered to be an ability to put societal and individual perspectives on the causes, consequences and the responsibility on and for events. Students’ understanding has been studied using a survey and focusgroup interviews. In addition a limited change was made in the teacher's ‘coverage of weekly news’. The ambition was to tentatively test conditions in order to examine the learning effects of news coverage in a more rigorous way in future studies. The result shows that the students mainly have an individual-based understanding when it comes to the cause of events, and a socially-based understanding when it comes to the responsibility to solve problems of events. One conclusion is that students often lack a more complex societal understanding. An important point is however that students understanding seldom exceeds the information provided by the media about an event. Here, teaching has an important role to play. Another point is that students’ understanding of current events is a difficult phenomenon to examine. In addition to the the news content itself, the understanding expressed by the students can be affected by several factors such as data collection method, critical political events in the outside world and the design of the activity‘coverage of weekly news’. We need further studies in order to express valid statements about influential factors for learning during the acitivity ‘coverage of weekly news’.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Conditions for Teaching and Learning in Religious Education (RE): Perspectives of Teachers and Pupils at the Beginning of the 6th Grade in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 76 EP - 96 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - discursive practice KW - speech genre KW - language KW - religious education KW - religious studies and theology AB - In this article empirical findings from interviews with teachers of three classes of 12-year-old pupils are presented, together with questionnaire-responses from these 54 pupils. The interviews focus on teaching aims for Religious Education (RE), a subject that in Sweden, besides dealing with religion, also explores other kinds of beliefs, ethics and life questions. In the questionnaire the pupils are asked to solve four RE tasks with content that is central from a Swedish curriculum perspective. The research involves pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade and the purpose of this article is to look at the teachers’ aims and the pupils’ responses, and consider what these may indicate about conditions for teaching and learning RE in these classes. The findings show that the perspectives of the pupils at the beginning of the sixth grade seem to be rather far from the expectations of the RE syllabus. The pupils’ statements are rather vague with regard to religion as a phenomenon and there are few examples of pupils interpreting religious symbols in a way that is useful in further analysis. While existential and ethical plots, messages and point of views are comparatively easy to describe, it is harder to express multiple perspectives, reasons, comparisons and questions. A problem for the teachers in developing the perspectives of their pupils is that they find it hard to say what kind of general difficulties pupils have in RE, a fact that makes it hard to direct the teaching. Another challenge is that the teachers’ RE-aims are rather overarching and primarily related to fostering fundamental values. What improves the conditions for teaching and learning is the teachers’ concern for the pupils and their relationships with the teacher and with each other, a factor which is of vital importance for learning and which can also be used as a specific teaching method in subject matter education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2017:1: Epistemologies of Religious Education Research in the Nordic Welfare states T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Buchardt, Mette PY - 2017 VL - 2017 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education research KW - epistemology KW - institutions KW - the nordic region KW - religious studies and theology AB - The theme of this special issue is the epistemological conditions and significant features for doing research in religious education in the Nordic region. Historical and institutional conditions make up an important part of the background for understanding. The articles in this issue which are introduced here try to grasp and explore the conditions for scholarly knowledge production concerning the teaching of religion in the states in question: Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2017:3: SO-didaktisk forskning som förmår bidra på skilda nivåer T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2017 VL - 2017 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2018:1: Historiedidaktik, SO-didaktik och ämnesdidaktik – Nordidactica som ett forum för möten T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2018 VL - 2018 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - education AB - Efter några nummer Nordidactica med ett fåtal historiedidaktiska artiklar kommer nu ett nummer med hela tre artiklar av just detta slag. Det är oundvikligen så att vi läser dessa artiklar på skilda sätt beroende på vår egen bakgrund. Saknar man själv specifik historiedidaktisk skolning så läser man artiklarna på ett mer övergripande sätt men också med andra referenspunkter än den generelle historiedidaktikern. Det är just detta som gör Nordidactica till en intressant SO-didaktisk mötesplats. Här får kunskapsutvecklingen inom de olika didaktikerna möjlighet att influera varandra. Det betyder att vi har möjlighet att se att många problem är gemensamma – kanske även bortom SO-didaktikens gränser, också i annan ämnesdidaktik – även om de tar sig skilda specifika uttryck. Detta uppmuntrar i sig till ökat ämnesdidaktiskt samarbete och fortsatt läsning bortom de specifika disciplinerna för att på så sätt öka såväl takt som skärpa i kunskapsutvecklingen. Det betyder även att vi har möjlighet att tydligare se vilken den unika karaktären på ett bidrag är, också bortom det mer triviala påståendet att ett bidrag handlar om historia och ett annat om geografi. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2018:1: Historiedidaktik, SO-didaktik och ämnesdidaktik – Nordidactica som ett forum för möten T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2018 VL - 1 IS - 2018 EP - 1 LA - eng ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Examples of knowledge contributions in Swedish RE – A discussion of disciplines as frames for knowledge re/production T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 66 EP - 86 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - knowledge KW - disciplines KW - religious studies and theology AB - The aim of this article is to examine kinds of knowledge contributions – in a) RE research, exemplified by three dissertations, and b) three textbooks for RE student teachers – in relation to the academic disciplines/milieus in which these knowledge contributions occur, and to discuss how these milieus work as frames for knowledge development. Characterisations of knowledge contributions in subject didactics and RE are used as analytical tools while the study as a whole draws on socio-cultural perspectives on learning and activity theory which stress how learning takes place in the discursive practices where people are active. A striking similarity between the dissertations is that none of them has been developed in an in an RE discipline, with an RE supervisor, or in an academic milieu specialising in RE. The different academic contexts have contributed to interesting combinations and developments of theoretical perspectives but simultaneously there is a lack of milieus that deal with these findings and integrate them into further developmental processes. Moreover, there seem to be larger differences in RE knowledge contributions between the dissertations and the textbooks as groups than within these groups. While the dissertations represent empirical studies of the participants in the teaching practices and use the findings as foundations for discussions and problematisations of RE teaching, the student teacher texts take the RE content and curriculum for granted to a larger extent. One conclusion of this article is that in order to strengthen the RE field – both in school, teacher education and research – extended cooperation between these different practices is needed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Interest or importance: Predicting Finnish students’ end-of-school attainment in history and social studies T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ouakrim-Soivio, Najat A1 - Kupiainen, Sirkku A1 - Rantala, Jukka PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 68 EP - 87 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - attitudes KW - assessment of learning outcomes KW - history and social studies KW - secondary education KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The role of motivation plays an important role in learning and in international studies of learning outcomes. However, the cross-sectional nature of international studies does not allow causal conclusions regarding the relations between students’ attainment and attitudes. A shared understanding of the intertwined relation between the two relies on evidence from other, more restricted longitudinal studies. In this article, we use longitudinal data to study the role of Finnish students’ history and social studies-related attitudes and school achievement in explaining their attainment in a national test at the end of lower secondary education, and the impact of these on students’ choice of and success in the respective exam(s) in the matriculation examination at the end of upper secondary education. Our results show that students grouped according to their choice of the history and/or social studies exam(s) in the matriculation examination differed significantly from each other in their subject-related attitudes, attainment in the national test, and school grades in the two subjects already three years prior to the examination. To end the paper, we will shortly discuss the results in terms of improving teachers´ and students’ understanding of how motivational attitudes are associated with learning outcomes and through them guide students’ later educational and exam choices. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Shadows under the North Star- The inequality developing in Finnish school education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ouakrim-Soivio, Najat A1 - Rautopuro, Juhani A1 - Hildén, Raili PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 65 EP - 86 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - educational equality KW - equal opportunity KW - basic education KW - assessment KW - learning outcomes KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In Finland, the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education is supposed to ensure equal opportunity for enrollment to upper secondary education by defining the learning objectives for each school subject at the end of basic education. The first nine years of education in Finland are described locally as ‘basic education’. Having equal learning opportunity as the leading ideal of educational equity implies that no statistically significant differences should prevail between groups, such as genders or regions.  This study sets out to map the fulfilment of equality via two research questions: How do learning outcomes at the end of basic education vary across certain background variables in three school subjects, and what is the size of between-school-variation in learning outcomes of students at Finnish- and Swedish-language of instruction schools. The results show that educational equality is not uniform across school subjects and schools. Learning outcomes in social studies, mathematics and English (advanced syllabus) vary according to gender, parents’ educational level and the language of instruction. However, the between-school variation, although small in general, differs only slightly between Finnish- and Swedish-language of instruction schools. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Postmodernism, Historical Denial, and History Education: What Frank Ankersmit Can Offer to History Didactics T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Parkes, Robert John PY - 2013 VL - 2 IS - 3 SP - 20 EP - 37 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - postmodernism KW - historical denial KW - narrative KW - history didactics KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - history of education AB - History educators frequently ignore, or engage only reluctantly and cautiously with postmodernism. This is arguably because postmodernism is frequently accused of assaulting the epistemological foundations of history as an academic discipline, fostering a climate of cultural relativism, encouraging the proliferation of revisionist histories, and providing fertile ground for historical denial. In the Philosophy of History discipline, Frank Ankersmit has become one of those scholars most closely associated with ‘postmodern history’. This paper explores Ankersmit’s ‘postmodern’ philosophy of history, particularly his key notion of ‘narrative substances’; what it might do for our approach to a problem such as historical denial; and what possibilities it presents for history didactics. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historieundervisningens existentialiserande potential T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Persson, Anders A1 - Thorp, Robert PY - 2017 VL - 2 SP - 59 EP - 74 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - history education KW - existentialisation KW - teachers KW - historicity KW - history didactics KW - historididaktik KW - lärare KW - historieundervisning KW - utbildning och lärande KW - education and learning AB - This article presents a study of how history education can be understood as a practice directed towards existentialisation. Through classroom observation, teacher interviews and focus group interviews with students in grade 9 in Swedish lower secondary school, a complex teaching practice is uncovered where history teachers have to deal with matters pertaining to disseminating a meaningful narrative of the past, a critical approach to these narratives and an awareness of historicity and its implications for how we approach and understand the past. These results are then discussed from the perspectives of how history education can promote existentialisation among students, and what challenges and opportunities this may present to history teachers. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hållbar utveckling - En grupp gymnasieelevers resonemang om några livsstilsval T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Persson, Christel PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 119 EP - 145 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - earth system science model KW - egocentric perspective KW - education for AB - Citizens need to be prepared on socio- scientific issues in order to argue in interdisciplinary subjects related to cycles in soil, air and water, and the increased greenhouse effect. The ecological, economic and social perspectives must be understood as a whole, while the consumption of resources stems from various conflicts of interest. Focus in the study is to investigate how students in secondary school argue in a long term perspective about their ability to act in food-, water- and energy issues. Interviews and questionnaires have been the data collection methods. The analytical method was to reflect the students' statements regarding the external and internal environment in which the Earth System Science respective Agens´ model accounted analyzers. Most pupils expressed egocentric and short-term perspectives in their reasoning and they reflected on their lack of factual knowledge from school. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The historical past och the practical past: Om ett utvecklat lärande i historia på gymnasie- och högskolenivå T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Persson, Helén PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 128 EP - 150 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - the historical past KW - the practical past KW - progression KW - kunskapskrav KW - historievetenskap KW - historieundervisning KW - kunskap och färdigheter KW - lärprocesser KW - källkritik KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In the spring of 2018 a study by Stefan Sellbjer at Linnaeus University showed on one hand that several professors did not believe they could meet the school's knowledge requirements in their own subjects. Parents, on the other hand, thought that the knowledge requirements were so abstract and complex that they could no longer question their children about the homework. The purpose of this study is to provide a theory-testing and tentative explanation of the professors’ and parents’ experiences with the help of interviews. How do teachers in history view the relevance of the subject of history and its goals? A hypothesis, that is confirmed in the interviews, is that teachers at the university level to a greater extent describe the relevance of the history subject in terms of the historical past and that the teachers at the upper secondary level to a greater extent describe the relevance of the history subject in terms of the practical past. The teachers’ answers can be described in terms of four different learning processes. According to both upper secondary school and university teachers, knowing history is about something qualitatively different from learning about history. A hybrid form of learning history in history can be discerned in the upper secondary school teachers’ answers: that a developed learning is about learning history in the present. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Uppfinningen av ett skolämne:: Ett historiesociologiskt perspektiv på samhällskunskapsämnets logik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Persson, Magnus PY - 2018 VL - 4 SP - 160 EP - 183 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstad university KW - social studies KW - historical sociology KW - social field KW - institutionalized unpredictability KW - content elasticity KW - sociologi med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning KW - sociology education AB - From being a part of the history subject, social studies was established as an independent school-subject in Sweden during the first decades of the postwar era. By using a historical sociology analysis this article argue that the specific social and moral setting that dominated how the educational system were organized after WWII, formed durable and still present logics of the definition of subject-content, the societal function of the subject and the means of knowledge (re)production related to the subject. Social studies developed a normative content taught with progressive methods in close relation to state-ideological ideas of citizenship and democracy rather than academic production of knowledge. This developed a school-subject based on institutionalized unpredictability, a content with high elasticity and with weak links to knowledge (re)production system most often carried out by the academic system. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Students’ performance in ethics assignments in the Finnish Matriculation Examination 2017–2021 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Perälä, Mika A1 - Salmenkivi, Eero PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 14 EP - 43 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - matriculation examination KW - core curriculum KW - finland KW - normative ethics KW - metaethics KW - average performance KW - assignment KW - grading guidelines KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - What is difficult in ethics teaching for general upper secondary students? Can they achieve as good results in metaethics as in normative ethics? These questions should not be addressed without consideration of the various traditions of ethics teaching. Finnish students complete their studies in general upper secondary school by taking the Matriculation Examination. In recent years, a growing number of students has chosen to take an exam in philosophy but there is no systematic study on how students perform in the philosophy exam. This study is focused on those assignments within philosophy that concern ethics. How do students meet the key goals of ethics education defined in the Finnish National Core Curriculum 2015? The material of the study consists of the curriculum, ethics assignments, grading guidelines and the performance statistics in 2017–2021. The main observation is that the average performance is better in assignments in normative ethics than in metaethics, but in neither area of ethics does the average performance surpass half of the maximum points that is considered the threshold for a satisfactory performance. Implications for ethics teaching? We recommend that normative considerations be combined with metaethical considerations when necessary. However, we issue this recommendation having in mind the teaching of ethics in a philosophy classroom. The question for further research is whether the recommendation can also be reasonably applied to the teaching of ethics in other settings. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Recension av Elmeroth: Etnisk maktordning i skola och samhälle T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Petteri, Muukkonen PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 156 EP - 157 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Demokratiutbildningens didaktik: internalisering, tänkande och handlande T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Piepenburg, Sebastian A1 - Arensmeier, Cecilia PY - 2020 VL - 1 SP - 115 EP - 136 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - democratic education KW - civic education KW - democracy KW - samhällsdidaktik AB - This article discusses democratic and citizenship education with the ambition of linking theoretical insights from several fields of research to practical teaching. Perspectives on education, citizenship, politische Bildung, democratic theory and power, provides theoretical input. These perspectives are combined into three ideal-typical approaches to democratic education, emphasizing different aspects: democratic internalization, democratic acting and democratic thinking. We argue that practical teaching should utilize all three positions. Ultimately, a comprehensive didactic model is developed in order to visualize the relationship between the approaches. The model provides a bridge between theoretical and practical aspects of democratic education, which is useful for both teaching and research. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Visual Sources and Historical Thinking in Higher Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Puurtinen, Marjaana A1 - Nivala, Markus A1 - Virta, Arja PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 1 EP - 20 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - colligation KW - encapsulation theory KW - expertise KW - higher education KW - history education KW - visual sources AB - In this paper we argue that a meaningful perspective for framing the development of historical thinking is needed and suggest the expertise approach for this purpose. In an interview study, 12 master’s and 11 bachelor’s students of history were invited to name themes for two series of historical images and reflect on the images and their conclusions. Only eight students explicitly demonstrated what we define as advanced historical thinking: instead of simply describing the sources, these students used both conceptual and analytical tools, and evaluated the sources critically. We suggest that learning history at university should be a more frequent topic of research in history education and that the scaffolding of history students on different levels of expertise should be taken more into account. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ambitious aims, traditional reality? Observing historical literacy in Finnish upper secondary schools T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Puustinen, Mikko A1 - Khawaja, Amna PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 53 EP - 76 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical literacy KW - historical thinking KW - history teaching KW - observation study KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article investigates history instruction in Finnish upper secondary schools. The study revolves around the concept of historical literacy. We study what kind of texts and pedagogical activities history teachers used, and discuss to what extent the observed teaching can be characterised as disciplinary. A total of nine teachers were observed for five consecutive lessons. The data include numerical data collected using an observation instrument, as well as field notes and teacher interviews. The results reveal a teacher-led approach that emphasises substantive knowledge. Primary sources or other texts were used or analysed very rarely in the classroom. Nevertheless, in the interviews, the observed teachers indicated an understanding of what disciplinary teaching entails and considered it important to employ disciplinary practices. This disconnect indicates that the aims stipulated at the curricular level are only being partially implemented at the classroom level. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing historical empathy through simulation: How do Finnish teacher students achieve contextual historical empathy? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Rantala, Jukka PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 58 EP - 76 LA - eng PB - Karlstad CSD KW - history teaching KW - historical thinking KW - concept of empathy KW - assesing empathy KW - simulation AB - There has been a great deal of international debate about introducing historical empathy as the focus in teaching history. However, as it is, the contents of the concept have been included in the curricula in many countries. Nevertheless, practising stepping into the shoes of a person from a previous era is still in its infancy in schools in many locations – Finland included. This article discusses Finnish class teacher students' understanding of historical empathy. The article is based on a study where 360 class teacher students played a game simulating the Cuban Missile Crisis. Their task was to assume the roles of the superpower leaders and make decisions on the basis of these roles. The simulation showed that a majority of the student teachers are able to attain a level of contextual historical empathy. They were able to empathize with the historical context in question and make such decisions that would have been possible for the historical actors. Some of the playing groups on the other hand, referred to their current knowledge and attitudes, which, according to Ashby and Lee's empathy classification, shows lower-level empathy. The study corroborates previous research results concerning great discrepancies in the understanding of empathy prevalent within one age group. Moreover, the study raises the question of how historical empathy should be handled in teaching if many future teachers have difficulties in understanding it. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Etik som intenderet, aktualiseret og evalueret indhold i Kristendomskundskab/Religion på læreruddannelsen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Rasmussen, Hanne Fie A1 - Nørgaard, Julie A1 - Østergaard Nielsen, Julie PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 44 EP - 61 LA - dan PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - content KW - teacher education KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Ethics is not a separate subject in the Danish primary school but incorporated in other subjects in various ways e.g. as part of the subject kristendomskundskab/religion (Knowledge of Christianity). It remains unclear precisely how student teachers are prepared for addressing ethics as a didactic content in relation to their future teacher profession. This article explores ethics as a didactic content in the course in Danish teacher education and centers on how teacher educators initiate student teachers into the above-mentioned field. With an outset in Frede V. Nielsens approach to didactic content we conducted interviews with teacher educators, collected course plans and student assignments to explore how ethics undergo stages of transformation. Focusing on ethics as an intended content, as an actualised content concluding with ethics as an evaluated content. Subsequently we apply action-oriented didactics and Gert Biestas three domains of purpose; qualification, socialization, and subjectification, and discuss how these become apparent and how they can contribute to prepare student teachers for their future teacher profession. This article illustrates a diversity of ways of working with ethics as didactic content in the course in Danish teacher education including how ethics can be centered around action-orientated didactics and the potentials, challenges and points of attention this imparts to the course. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Globalization and classroom practice: insights on learning about the world in Swedish and Australian schools T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Reynolds, Ruth A1 - Vinterek, Monika PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 104 EP - 130 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - globalization in classrooms KW - methodology of classroom research KW - intercultural understanding in teaching KW - global education KW - teaching global education KW - undervisning KW - globalisering KW - klassrum KW - so KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - interkulturell förståelse KW - utbildning och lärande KW - education and learning KW - samhällskunskap AB - Globalization and global education implies changes to practices at the classroom level to adapt to new imperatives associated with technology use and awareness, and environmental sustainability. It also implies much more. It implies that teachers apply their classroom pedagogy to take account of students’ new found global understandings of which they, and the school community, is largely unaware. This article addresses and discuses three key consequences of globalization for classrooms worldwide; an increased diversity of experience of the students within the classroom, an increased competitiveness of educational outcomes between national states and subsequently some standardisation of curriculum across nations to enable this, and an increased emphasis on teaching skills and values associated with intercultural understanding. Young children’s map knowledge and their resultant, and associated, interpretations of the world from a comparative study a from Swedish and Australian primary classrooms is used as examples of some of these implications of the impact of ‘global culture’ and ‘global issues’ on current and future classroom practice. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Powerful knowledge and equity: How students from different backgrounds approach procedural aspects of history in large-scale testing T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Rosenlund, David PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 28 EP - 49 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - vertical knowledge KW - curriculum KW - history education KW - equity KW - assessment AB - The study takes its point of departure in two interrelated discussions on education. One addresses the extent to which education should include aspects from academic disciplines, while the second addresses observed differences between two groups of students those with a Swedish background and those with a non-Swedish background. The research question is if and how the inclusion of academic aspects in curricula is a factor behind the differences in grades and results on the national test in history. In the study, 100 student responses on one item in the national test in history are examined. Concept analysis is applied to examine the extent to which students from the two groups have command over disciplinary aspects. The model of cognitive representations suggested by Wineburg is used as a theoretical framework. The results show that there are significant differences not only between the two groups of students but also between students within the groups. The results are related to the discussion on knowledge and curriculum, on the one hand and the issue of equity in education on the other ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Geografi i studentexamen i Finland: Hur skolans kursutbud påverkar de studerandes val av krävande uppgifter i gymnasieskolans slutexamen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ruth, Christina A1 - Hanell, Tomas PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 133 EP - 157 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geography KW - matriculation examination KW - upper secondary school KW - bloom’s revised taxonomy KW - finnish core curriculum KW - geografi KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The upper secondary school in Finland has experienced major changes in both the national curriculum and in the matriculation examination, a nationwide exam that is taken during the final year of upper secondary school. The digitalization of the exam in recent years has had an impact on the assignments in the test. Our research question concerns the causal relationship between the number of geography courses a school offers and the quality of the students’ answers. Our empirical material consists of the students’ performance on the geography assignments in the matriculation examination in the spring of 2010 (an analogue exam) and 2020 (a digital exam). The performance is studied in relation to the share of the students’ answers on questions which, according to Bloom’s revised taxonomy, require higher-order cognitive skills. We utilise multiple regression and control for several contextual factors. We find strong empirical evidence for a positive correlation between the number of geography courses a school offers and the level of difficulty of the assignments that the students choose to tackle. This correlation exists in the digital exam of 2020, but not in the analogue exam a decade earlier. Our findings have important implications for forthcoming development of national curricula and matriculation examinations. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Education for Sustainable Development in Norwegian Geography curricula T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sætre, Per Jarle PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 63 EP - 78 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - environmental education KW - education for sustainable development KW - geography didactics KW - geography curricula KW - geography KW - geografi AB - In Norway, environmental education (EE) has been part of schools’ curricula since the 1970s. The concept of education for sustainable development (ESD) was introduced after Agenda 21 was introduced at the UN conference on environment and development held in Rio in 1992. The article shows there has been little change in the geography curricula since the concept ESD was introduced, and no important differences are found between curricula for mandatory schooling (classes 1–10) and curricula for upper secondary schools. ESD is mentioned in the geography curricula but without explanation and implementation. Core goals in the general national core curricula may indicate a change to ESD, but they have not been followed in the development of geography curricula in Norway. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ivar Refsdals skoleatlas. Atlasets innhold og betydning for samtiden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sætre, Per Jarle PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 24 EP - 50 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - ivar refsdal KW - geografiundervisning KW - karthistorie KW - geography KW - geografi AB - Ivar Refsdal’s school atlases were the most used school atlases in Norway for most of the 20th century. The article shows that his maps where highly appreciated by his contemporary citizens as a new mean for geography education in Norwegian schools. Making maps always means choices of content and mapmaking technique. Therefor the article is discussing some of the map making choices made by Refsdal to display the world for the students. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Kunskapsdelning om undervisning i historia och SO-ämnena på sociala medier; en komparativ studie mellan USA och Sverige T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 101 EP - 121 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - knowledge circulation KW - social studies KW - social media AB - This article reports on a study of how teachers share knowledge about teaching on social media, specifically in teacher groups on Facebook, which is a common channel for teachers sharing experience on teaching issues. Group discussion fora for teachers in the US and Sweden in History and Social Studies Subjects are compared. Most of the posts concern teaching content knowledge in various areas. There are very few examples of discussions on why a topic is being taught, however. The similarities between the US and Sweden in this context are significant, and can be understood as a result of a shared school system, which is characterized by a focus on performance, standards and tests. The group similarities can also be understood in relation to the special "Facebook culture” in which certain expected behaviours recur regardless of national context. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Skolan och samhällsvetenskapen: Framväxt och etablering av en svensk gymnasial samhällsvetarutbildning 1922-1970 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2023 VL - 1 SP - 74 EP - 93 LA - swe PB - Lund university : Karlstads universitet AB - After the First World War, a reform was initiated in Swedish education and one area of change was the upper secondary programme system, which only offered the increasingly obsolete natural science and latin specialisations. The aim of this article is to describe and analyze, on the basis of government commission reports, curricula and debate articles, the revision of the upper secondary level grammar school programmes and in particular the introduction of a third specialisation option with a social science focus. The article shows that the introduction of the upper secondary social science specialisation programme in 1955 reflects the emergence of a new field of science, the Social Sciences. Changes in the labor market and the need to centre students' studies on fewer subjects also explain the development. Critics of the change feared that the third programme specialisation would attract untalented and lazy students. The critics further feared that in the long run it would impoverish Sweden as a nation of knowledge, a criticism that was mainly articulated during the interwar period. After the Second World War, when the decision was finally made to introduce the third option with a social science emphasis, this was implemented without any major political debate. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ämnesintegrering och ämnesspecialisering: SO-undervisning i Sverige 1980-2014 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 85 EP - 118 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies KW - curriculum debate KW - interdisciplinary KW - education AB - A major issue in Swedish and international research has, indeed, been the overriding purpose of social studies, along with the recurring discussion on whether the teaching of social studies should be organised in the individual subjects or be subject-integrated. The main aim of this article is to analyse how social studies as a specific field of study is featured in government commissions of inquiry and steering documents in the period 1980-2014. The analysis is primarily based on American and Nordic history and social studies education theory, which has identified a number of concepts regarding the purpose and organization of the social studies subject; the humanistic approach; the progressively approach; the disciplinary oriented approach and the postmodern and interpretive approach. The article is based on an analysis of national evaluations and reviews of social studies as well as curricula and government commissioned inquiries. The analysis shows that social studies as a knowledge domain is characterized by progressivism in the national evaluations in the whole period. Although curricula nowadays have a disciplinary perspective on the purpose and organization of social studies, progressivism is still prevalent in evaluations. It is clear that the public authorities responsible for the most recent inspections embrace progressivism. Concurrent with the predominance of certain education philosophies–progressivism in 1980-2011 and the disciplinary perspective from 2011– there are also traces of other approaches in the curricula, for example, the humanistic as well as the postmodern perspectives. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Being Engaged and Knowledgeable: Social Science Thinking Concepts and Students’ Civic Engagement in Teaching on Globalisation T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sandahl, Johan PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 158 EP - 179 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstad University Press KW - social science KW - civics KW - civic education KW - civic engagement KW - stand-by citizens KW - disciplinary approach KW - first and second order social science concepts KW - critical thinking KW - globalisation teaching KW - subject learning and teaching KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällskunskap AB - The question of whether or not school makes a difference in preparing students for democratic citizenship has been debated for a long time in political science and curriculum studies. These discussions are mostly based on the results of international surveys measuring students’ political attitudes, values and participation. However, we first need to define what kind of prepared citizens are needed. This article takes on the definition issue and presents new perspectives by exploring howteachersin Social Science (Samhällskunskap) and their students in Sweden reason about engagement when they address complex societal issues such as globalisation. Based on interviews with a number of teachers and students I will argue that in order to understand what is going on in school we need to interpret Social Science teaching in terms of first-and second-order concepts,where the second-order concepts could be seen as “how to think like a social scientist”. I will make a case that there is a didactic dilemma for teachers trying to educate students who are both trained in disciplinary thinking and leave school as politically engaged. However, this dilemma is not unsolvable and I will hold a position that it might contain answers to some of the questions that political scientists deal with in terms of engagement ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskap och historia i svensk gymnasieskola: ämnenas roll och relation i diskurs och ämnesplaner T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sandahl, Johan PY - 2014 VL - 1 SP - 53 EP - 84 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - medborgarkompetens KW - medborgarfostran KW - historiedidaktik KW - samhällskunskapsdidaktik KW - historiemedvetande KW - historiebruk KW - demokrati KW - medborgarskap KW - subject learning and teaching KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällskunskap AB - Abstract: The adoption of new syllabuses in history and social science in the new Swedish curriculum raises questions on the relationship between the two subjects. Social Science and History as school subjects have previously been described as both competing and complementary. The competing aspect has mainly been descibed in terms of citizenship education and the complementary aspect has been described in terms of content, abilities, and temporality. This article discusses how history and social science relate to these four topics in didactic discourse and in the new syllabuses. In the didactic discource both subjects underline the importance of making subject matter useful in life outsideschool. However, the new syllabuses are very differently formulated in this sense. History is closely connected to citizenship education and describes content, abilities and temporality in such a context. Social Science on the other hand downtunes the traditional role as a subject important for citizenship. Instead, focus is aimed at disciplinary thinking and using knowledge to understand social science methods and theories. This development is seen as very problematic and challenging for a meaningful teaching of Social Science in upper secondary school. In response to this challenge, the author proposes interdisciplinary didactic development, especially in developing "dynamic concepts" within Social Science didactics. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vart bör samhällskunskapsdidaktiken gå? Om ett splittrat forskningsfält och vägar framåt T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sandahl, Johan PY - 2018 VL - 3 SP - 44 EP - 64 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social science KW - education KW - epistemic communities KW - subject learning and teaching KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällskunskap AB - Social Science (Samhällskunskap) is the assigned school subject with the major responsibility for political education in year 1-12 (Sandahl, 2015c; cf. other Nordic countries in Christensen, 2011; Børhaug 2011). Even though Social Science is considered important and well established in schools, it has been described as in a “stage of crisis” for several decades due to its lack of a academic equivalent (Bronäs & Selander, 2002). Furthermore, researchers interested in social science education come from different communities of enquiry such as pedagogy and political science resulting in a diverse and sprawled research community. Departing from Michael Young’s (2013) notion of ‘epistemic community’, this article discusses the need to define and demarcate the research field of social science ‘didaktik’. Moreover, the article suggests a field of research interest that might help shape a community where researchers from different backgrounds can contribute. The argument is that a strong research community can provide answers to the alleged crisis of the school subject. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Manligt och kvinnligt i skolämnet historia. Vad har det för konsekvenser för elevernas historiekultur? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sandberg, Karin PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 56 EP - 77 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historiedidaktik KW - könsnormer KW - historiekultur KW - yngre elever KW - historieundervisning AB - Utifrån intervjuer med elever i årskurs fem skildras i denna artikel elevernas historiekultur. Texten har två infallsvinklar, den första är elevernas uppfattning om manliga respektive kvinnliga aspekter av det förflutna. Den visade att eleverna främst ser manliga aktörer och manliga aktiviteter som riktig historia. Den andra infallsvinkeln är skillnader mellan pojkar och flickors inställningar till skolämnet historia och till historien som fenomen samt elevernas historiekultur. Den genomgången visade att flickor uppvisar ett större intresse än pojkarna för historia, både som skolämne och för att ta del av historia på fritiden. I artikeln påvisas att elevernas historiekultur förefaller vara inriktad på vad de beskriver som de stora händelserna i det förflutna. Pojkarna visar inget intresse för andra delar av det förflutna medan flickor också visar intresse för den vardagliga historien. Flickor framför att de behöver läsa historia för att få bra betyg medan både pojkar och flickor vill läsa historia för att bli allmänbildade och bli en del av samhället. Slutligen förs en diskussion av dessa aspekters relevans för skolämnet historia och dess under­visning. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Digital ethical Bildung as a proactive educational approach against cyberbullying, with Aristotle, Løgstrup and Barad as sources for a philosophical framework T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sando, Svein PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 54 EP - 75 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - cyberbullying KW - ict KW - aristotle KW - løgstrup KW - karen barad KW - education AB - This article discusses three different theoretical approaches to deal with cyberbullying in education in ethics. The first approach is Tom Harrison’s fostering of “cyber-phronesis”, based on Aristotelian virtue ethics. The second one is K. E. Løgstrup’s ontological ethics which focuses on self-evident ethical demands emerging when people get entangled with each other. The third is Karen Barad’s agential realism, which also focuses on entanglements but includes more than humans in what matters as entangled agents. This opens for the inclusion of cyberspace in both technical, material and social manners as ethical agents. The author finds all three approaches viable and believes that they can be combined. Digital ethical Bildung (close to ‘cyber-phronesis’) of children is important in order to refrain from bullying others and to sustain bullying. Face-to-face entanglements is a better environment to become ethically addressed than online in order to enhance one’s phronesis. Considering non-human ethical agents is viable in order to be aware of and enhance one’s digital ethical Bildung further. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - From a Welcoming Rhetoric to a Narrowing One: Constructing Citizen Agency in Finnish Social Studies Textbooks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Satokangas, Henri A1 - Mikander, Pia PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 85 EP - 108 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - agency KW - textbooks KW - social studies KW - discourse analysis KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The article examines the ways in which the reader is positioned in the role of an active citizen in social studies textbooks in Finnish basic education. The Finnish core curriculum in general and the syllabus for social studies in particular both emphasize active citizenship as a central educational goal. Drawing on the frameworks of discourse analysis and textual interaction, the article analyses the linguistic and rhetorical means by which the reader is addressed and discusses the image of societal agency that is constructed. The results show that the introductory chapters employ an encouraging, “welcoming rhetoric” to depict an ideal reader who is about to grasp the potential to change the world. Theme-specific chapters indicate that this agency consists of some domain-specific actions in society, such as voting, while the reader is left with a reactive role regarding choosing a career and participating in the economy and offered quite limited ways to influence climate change and the ongoing ecological disaster. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Närområdesexkursioner och inre motivation för bättre lärande: en studie i svenska gymnasieskolan T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Schmidinger, Helen A1 - Brandt, S. Anders PY - 2015 VL - 1 IS - 2015 SP - 22 EP - 46 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - locally based excursions KW - intrinsic motivation KW - flow KW - geography KW - secondary school education KW - närområdesexkursioner KW - inre motivation KW - geografi KW - gymnasieutbildning AB - This paper reports results from two locally based geography excursions at two secondary schools in Sweden, in order to study how the pupils’ own experience from the local neighborhood, intrinsic motivation, and flow interact during the learning process to see if these parameters affect their understanding and knowledge of the studied objects. The methods used were observations during the excursions, as well as interviews and questionnaires afterwards. The results show that the pupils believe that they learn more when studying objects in their natural environment, i.e. outside their classroom. Furthermore, the results show that intrinsic motivation may be difficult, but not impossible, to achieve, and also that there are good opportunities for attaining flow. If the pupils can see patterns and structures of the objects and processes studied, they will start understand and gain knowledge. This process will increase chances for intrinsic motivation, which will further increase understanding and knowledge, and attaining flow. Once achieved, a spiral process of continued flow, continued intrinsic motivation, and increasing knowledge may be maintained. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial - NORDIDACTICA, CSD och ett nordiskt forskarsamarbete T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Schüllerqvist, Bengt PY - 2011 VL - 2 LA - swe PB - Karlstads universitet - CSD ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Å utvikle etisk kompetanse med 3H-modellen: En studie av et etikkdidaktisk undervisningsdesign med VR T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Simchai Hansen, Simon A1 - Aukland, Knut PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 86 EP - 107 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - moral education KW - ethical competence KW - character education KW - teaching ethics KW - virtual reality KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Inspired by design-based research, this article reports on an intervention in moral education aimed to strengthen the students’ ethical competence (age 11–13). The instructional designed utilized VR and a 360-degree video depicting bullying, allowing the students to take the position of a student who is both a witness to and a victim of bullying. A model of ethical competence with three dimensions (cognitive, emotional, and action) was developed in creating the instructional design, and then applied in the analysis of the data consisting of 30 student texts and three focus group interviews. In our analysis we further develop our proposed model of ethical competence, and discuss key tendencies in the students’ ethical reflections, including their emphasis on consequences for themselves, ability to take the perspective of another, and trust in adult caretakers to solve their problems.     ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “We say that we are a tolerant country”: National narratives and middle-school students’ perspectives on historical significance T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sjölund Åhsberg, Cathrine PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 1 EP - 24 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical significance KW - historical thinking KW - history education KW - national narratives KW - curriculum KW - ethical significance KW - affective significance AB - This study examines middle-school students’ perspectives on significant history in the context of Swedish history. Data was generated from 14 focus groups in five middle schools, with students (n=53) aged 11-12, who first completed a picture-selection task and then participated in semi-structured focus-group interviews. Analysis was conducted using Lévesque’s (2005, 2008) theoretical framework for historical significance. The article presents three key findings related to the students’ perspectives. First, two additions to Lévesque’s framework, ethical and affective significance, are suggested. Secondly, the study highlights the strong influence of current issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on students’ selection of historically significant content. Thirdly, the study reveals that students employed two conflicting national narratives when discussing significant historical events. One historical narrative centered around forming and transforming the nation and improving life in society, often including Gustav Vasa and the Reformation. This narrative aligns closely with the official history covered in Swedish history education. In contrast, students also embraced a counter-narrative with ethical dimensions, focusing on the silent and silenced narratives of alternative and ethically questionable histories, including themes of human and minority rights, colonial history, and personal experiences of war. These topics were not represented in the pictures included in the study, which represented an “official” history, yet the students expressed a strong desire to learn more about them. This study contributes to the understanding of middle-school students’ perspectives on significant history and underscores the importance of considering ethical and affective dimensions in historical significance frameworks. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Where is Norwegian religious education research heading? A discussion based on two dissertations. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Skeie, Geir PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 27 EP - 48 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - phd KW - norway KW - research KW - epistemology KW - religious studies and theology KW - didactic science for teachers and teaching professions AB - Norwegian religious education research has produced more than 30 dissertations since late1990’s and has a strong and growing research record in spite of a rather weak and vulnerable position in academic structures. In order to assess the situation and to discuss future possibilities, the article presents the research context and go on to discuss the dissertations of Geir Skeie (1998) and Bengt-Ove Andreassen (2007). It is argued that they have many similarities, but also differences in the way they address the field and discuss epistemological issues. Theory, method and effects of the dissertations in the research community are mentioned and this leads to a deliberation about the role of academic disciplines in the construction of religious education research. A final discussion concludes that systematic reviews of religious education research would be helpful in order to develop future research and to avoid less fruitful disciplinary rivalries. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Elevers tolkning av multiple tekster i historiefaglige prosjekter T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Skjæveland, Yngve A1 - Marthinsen, Birger A1 - Magerøy-Grande, Linn Maria PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 26 EP - 47 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - source criticism KW - historical literacy KW - action research. KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article discusses how source criticism can be used as a method in history classes and how students and teachers experience the learning outcome. The study is based on an action research project at an upper secondary school in Norway. During two action periods, the students read a wide variety of historical secondary sources and wrote academic texts. Both students and teachers had a positive assessment of the students' learning outcomes. However, there was great variation among the students. There are several challenges associated with this method. About half of the students found it challenging to read advanced texts, they struggled with acquiring the content and to interpret and compare the content of the texts. Students need more training in reading strategies and in assessing texts critically and independently. In addition, and even more important, they need to develop an understanding of why this kind of competence is important. For this type of project to contribute to the pupils' development of competence, it is necessary to work systematically and long-term with source assessment, qualitative methods and academic writing.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samfunnsfagdidaktisk forsking med empiri frå norsk skule – eit forskingsoversyn T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Skjæveland, Yngve PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 142 EP - 163 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies didactics KW - review KW - subject didactics KW - school research KW - samfunnsfagdidaktikk KW - forskingsoversyn KW - fagdidaktikk KW - skuleforsking KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The article provides an overview and assessment of empirical research on social studies in Norwegian school from 1997 to 2020. The research is fragmented and large parts of the social studies subject have scarcely been explored. Far more research has been conducted in civic education and history than in geography. Democracy is the individual topic that has received most attention from researchers. Far more studies have been carried out in secondary school than in primary school, and qualitative studies are predominant. There is a greater focus on students' understanding than on the teacher's perspective. The number of publications in the field has been increasing in recent years, but the new curriculum places new requirements on teachers and teacher education, which increases the need for new research in the field. The article discusses research gaps and possible future research objectives.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “The Trick and How to Do It.” Teaching Historical Thinking in International Baccalaureate (IB) Classrooms in Finland T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Soininen, Susanna PY - 2022 VL - 2022 IS - 12 SP - 77 EP - 100 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - analysis of primary sources KW - ib history teaching KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Recent research in history teaching pedagogy considers the analytical use of primary sources to be a key feature in the teaching of historical thinking. This article describes the teaching practices employed by International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) history teachers in Finland when using primary sources in history lessons. Six teachers in Finnish IB schools were interviewed between October 2017 and April 2018, and the collected data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the teachers used a variety of teaching practices, both teacher-driven and student-oriented, to meet the requirements of the IB history curriculum and to promote the learning of history by doing history. The teachers in the study instructed their students in the analytical use of sources and appreciated the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) assessment format, stating that the process of preparing students for Paper 1 and using the OPVL method (evaluating sources by their origin, purpose, value, and limitations) facilitated the teaching of historical skills. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Trends and dilemmas in citizenship education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Solhaug, Trond PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 180 EP - 200 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - democracy KW - citizenship education KW - teacher dilemmas AB - This article elaborates some important trends and discussions in citizenship education. It seems that there are strong arguments from scientific scholars which express opposition to a focus on only formal facts and democratic procedures in the teaching of citizenship education. This approach is also criticized by students for its meaninglessness and irrelevance. There also seems to be relative agreement that democracies are being challenged for various reasons, that school plays an important role in citizenship education, that republicanism is the preferred framework, and that students construct their own views of the world (constructivist learning processes). Despite this rather general agreement, there remain quite a few important dilemmas and also disagreements in the field of citizenship education. Among these are: the conceptualization of democracy, the knowledge to be presented, adopting a national versus a global perspective, the maturity of young citizens regarding the question of multiculturalism, and approaches to teaching (particularly providing room for criticism). These and other dilemmas are discussed, and a summary of recommendations is put forward. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring the instrumental aspects of religious literacy of Estonian basic school graduates T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sooniste, Aleksandra PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 1 EP - 29 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious literacy KW - intercultural competencies KW - education about religions KW - secular society KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper presents findings from a 2022 survey that assessed the religious literacy of Estonian basic school graduates. The goal was to explore their attitudes toward various religious phenomena and their ability to navigate situations related to religious matters. The study involved 392 participants from large urban and small rural schools across Estonia. To conduct the survey, an original instrument was developed, taking into account the Estonian religious landscape, the National Curriculum for Basic Schools, the educational model of religious literacy by Matthew Francis and Adam Dinham, the characterization of religious literacy by Diane Moore, Francis, and Dinham, and Robert Jackson’s definition of religious competence. The results highlight the state of religious literacy in Estonia, one of the world’s least religious countries, with minimal public education on religions and worldviews. The survey indicates that part of Estonian basic school graduates lack the competencies to operate in situations requiring religious literacy. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Interdisciplinarity and self-reflection in civic education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Spanget Christensen, Torben PY - 2013 VL - 1 SP - 201 EP - 226 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social science KW - social studies KW - globalization KW - nation KW - state KW - civic citizenship KW - first order KW - second order and third order concepts. KW - samhällskunskap AB - Focus of interest in this article are the concepts of globalization and civic citizenship and the questions are; what is required to be a global citizen, and how to work with this in civic education. The concept of civic citizenship implies democracy. A citizen is an independent and (to some extent) educated decision maker and actor, not a mere subject loyal to the sovereign. So whenever speaking of a global citizen democracy is implied. But the world is not a democratic place as such. Most of it in fact is quite undemocratic. The question therefore is how it is possible to act as a citizen (as a democrat) in global space. The article argues that this will only be possibly if citizens are capable of dealing with complex societal problems and to understand their own role as citizens (democrats) in relation to these problems. The argument is firstly that problems and issues in global space are complex and can only be understood interdisciplinary. Therefore the ability to reflect problems interdisciplinary is crucial to the global citizen. The second argument is that the ability of self-reflection is necessary for citizens in their efforts to understand, maintain and develop their own (democratic) identity and (democratic) values and practices in relation to the complexity and unfamiliarity of the various non-democratic identities, values and practices in a global space. Therefore it is suggested that students in civic education need to develop competencies of reflection on interdisciplinarity and self-reflection-as-citizen as key tools for analyzing societal problems and to act democratically on them. And it is suggested that dealing with interdisciplinarity requires use of second order concepts and that self-reflection as citizens requires third order concepts ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samfundsfag - et senmoderne fag? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Spanget Christensen, Torben PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 25 LA - dan PB - Karlstad CSD KW - social studies KW - civics KW - didactics of subject matters KW - postmodern KW - citizenship education KW - competences in social studies KW - samfundsfag KW - demokratisk dannelse AB -  This article is about social studies (civics) as a school subject in Danish secondary and upper secondary school, especially with focus on what the subject contributes to the students in terms of development of citizenship (democratic Bildung) and in terms of general preparation for college and university studies. The subject curriculum show clear signs of a postmodern identity. The term postmodern refer to a globalized society challenging the absolute authority of the state. The state is under pressure of two interconnected and partly conflicting tendencies, namely globalization and individualization, leading to problems of state governance that cannot be solved in the traditional way, by strengthening the state and citizen loyalty. On the contrary, the situation calls for a high level of self governing on the part of the citizens and a high level of cooperation in the international society between states and between citizens in NGO’s. This sets a new task to social studies. The presented analysis of the social studies curriculum demonstrate how postmodern features are evident by the priority given to aims of student self governance and student self reflection opposed to a more traditional aim of loyalty to the state, by the implicit status given to democratic norms and democratic behavior opposed to explicit pointing out the right democratic norms and behavior, and by the emphasis on inductive methods opposed to deductive methods. It is argued that the postmodern identity of the social studies subject can be traced back to the early 1960’ties and even further back to anti authoritarian reactions to Fascism and Nazism in the 1930’ties and the 1940’ties. A comparison of two important textbooks (1917 and 1945) show how social studies changes focus from a legal to a sociological focus comprising postmodern features. It is further showed how these postmodern features develop in the social studies subject from the 1950’ties till today’s curriculum.It is concluded that the most important general aims (citizenship/ general bildung)of today’s social studies subject is to develop the students ability to connect social science knowledge on one side with societal development and own possibilities to act on a democratic basis in society, ability of self governance and ability of normative reflection. In addition the higher (optional) levels of subject gives a social science based preparation for college and university studies. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Nationella minoriteter i grundskolans läromedel 2011–2019 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Spjut, Lina PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 60 EP - 87 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - compulsory school KW - national minorities KW - sweden KW - textbooks KW - grundskola KW - nationella minoriteter KW - sverige KW - läromedel KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article focuses on similarities and differences in how and what is written about the five Swedish national minorities (Jews, Roma, indigenous Samis, Sweden Finns and Tornedalers) in textbooks related to Sweden’s Curriculum for the compulsory school of 2011. According to the curricula Swedish pupils shall obtain knowledge about the cultures, languages, religion and history of the national minorities. How is that done and how are textbooks related to that writing as well as directives in the different school-subjects syllabus?  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Stereotyper och rasbegreppet i finlandssvenska läroböcker: En textnära komparation av beskrivningar av samer under fyra decennier T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Spjut, Lina PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 50 EP - 71 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - finland KW - textbooks KW - minorities KW - finland-swedes KW - sami KW - race KW - stereotypes KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Textbooks are in this article seen as reflections on values and ideas of its present. Often, it’s the majority’s culture and narrative that are told in a nation’s textbooks. What happens when one minority’s textbooks describe another minority? In Finland such a study is possible, since their Swedish-speaking minority, Finland-swedes, have their own tradition of textbook-production. This article analyses textbooks-quotes about Sami, a Finnish minority-group. The textbooks in question are written 1963, 1972, 1981 and 1997, for the Finnish minority-group, Finland-swedes. The aim of the article is to, by comparison, enlighten and analyse how and why one minority’s textbook describes another minority during four decades of status-change for minorities in Finland. Questions raised are i) How do textbooks for the Finland-swedes describe Sami-people, another marginalized minority during a period of 40 years? ii) Which identity-markers and concepts are in focus in textbook-descriptions?  iii) What changes or stagnations are seen in textbooks and what factors could have made impact on the textbook-content over time?Results show that the first three books are reproduced intertextual but with an out-fading of stereotypical identity concepts which reflects a change from a biological definition of ethnicity to a more social definition. Although the concept ‘race’ appears in the textbooks from 1997, which can be caused by new race-debates, combined with change in the status of both Finland-swedes and Sami’s in Finland in the beginning of 1990s. The article argues that a marginalisation of Finland-swedes, as the same time as Sami’s got recognition as Finland’s indigenous people, made it important to connect Finns and Swedes as the common people – the common race – in order to get acknowledged as a natural part of Finlands population. In other words: When a majority culture defines and narrows down what is included in a national identity, it effects the minorities at several levels. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fiction-based ethics education in Swedish compulsory school – reflections on a research project T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sporre, Karin A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Lilja, Annika A1 - Lifmark, David A1 - Franck, Olof A1 - Lyngfelt, Anna PY - 2022 VL - 2 IS - 12 SP - 84 EP - 107 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - ethics education KW - fiction reading KW - multidimensional ethical competence KW - etikundervisning KW - skönlitteratur KW - mångdimensionell etisk kompetens KW - subject-specific education AB - In this article we draw conclusions from a research project in which a unique model for a fiction-based approach to ethics education was developed and used in three Swedish schools. Nine lessons were carried out during the 2019-2020 school year in five school classes: two in Grade 5 and three in Grade 8. Participating teachers worked with the researchers before and during the project to reflect on and develop the model. Moreover, five classes and teachers with their ordinary ethics education were engaged in the project. Theoretically, the project draws on the works of Martha C. Nussbaum in its choice to employ fiction reading in ethics education, and has a foundation in a sociocultural theory on moral development elaborated by Mark B. Tappan. The article’s aim is to critically reflect on the results and design of the project in relation to the theoretical underpinnings, with the purpose of offering reflections on ethics education for further development in both research and educational practice. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Den historiske romanen – som inngang til historieundervisninga i vidaregåande skule? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tafjord, Harald PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 156 EP - 167 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical empathy KW - historical consciousness KW - the historical novel AB - In modern multimedia society, media like film, computer games and literature have a significant impact on peoples understanding of history, and to a degree forms the development of historical consciousness amongst pupils, separate from the teaching in school. The use of film and computer games in history teaching is not uncommon, and has been subject to research, while the use of the historical novel in history teaching is less common. It has also received little attention from scholars. A central question raised for debate in this article is whether the historical novel could be used in the history teaching in the Norwegian upper secondary school, and how this use could be related to the core elements and aims of competence in the subject curriculum. A central argument made is that the use of the historical novel in the school subject history can be connected to the core elements of historical empathy and historical consciousness and promote both core elements when combined with sources and history textbooks. In addition, the article discusses the relationship between the field of history as a scientific subject and the historical novel, and how certain shared characteristics could benefit history teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historie, identitet og det fleirkulturelle samfunnet – ein analyse av lærebøker i historie for ungdomstrinnet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tafjord, Harald PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 107 EP - 128 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - lærebøker i historie KW - læreplanar KW - identitet KW - historiemedvit AB - During the past few decades, Norway has become a multicultural society. Investigations from other European countries have shown that pupils with multicultural backgrounds have found history teaching less meaningful and interesting in terms of identity construction than pupils with a majority background. The construction of identity is to some extent a historical oriented process, where historical knowledge is an instrument to strengthen integration and solidarity amongst inhabitants. The focus of this article is directed towards how multicultural Norway is reflected in the history discipline in secondary school, through an analysis of how changes related to immigration and multiculturalism are formulated in the curriculum and how this is reflected in the most used history textbooks at this level. An analysis of the textbooks is important as studies have displayed that they have a crucial role in the teaching and that many teachers use the textbook as a template on how to organise the teaching. This article reveals how the curriculums gradually changed from the 1990s and onwards with an increased focus on the multicultural society, but that the textbooks examined to a variable degree reflect such a change. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Is there a place for young people in the geography curriculum? Analysis of the aims and contents of the Finnish comprehensive school curricula T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tani, Sirpa PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 26 EP - 39 LA - eng PB - Karlstad CSD KW - geography KW - children’s geographies KW - geographies of young people KW - curriculum KW - finland AB -  Geography is one of the school subjects in which children and young people’s own experiences and views on the world can be easily taken into account. In the last decade, interest has been growing in the geographies of children and young people in contemporary cultural geography, and therefore, these issues seem even more central than before. In this article, which is based on the situation in Finland, changes in the status and contents of the national curricula for comprehensive school will be explained. A closer analysis will be made of the child-centred approaches of the geography curricula published in 1970, 1985, 1994 and 2004. The results of the analysis show how children and young people’s experiences are taken into account in principle, but most often only in the overall aims of the subject. The specified contents of teaching in curricular texts include just a few mentions of child-centred approaches. The same omission has also been reflected in school textbooks, which have a powerful position in guiding teacher’s choices in their practices of teaching. Based on these findings, it will be argued how in the future curriculum renewal process, more emphasis should be put on the geographies of children and young people. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Konstruktiv religionskritikk og medborgerskap: Læreres beskrivelser og refleksjoner T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tjelle Jarmer, Sebastian PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 62 EP - 85 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religionskritikk KW - religionsundervisning KW - medborgerskap KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Through discussion of new perspectives from democracy- and citizenship research, sociology of religion, and religious didactics, this article explores criticism of religion in Norwegian religious education. Based on empirical analyses of 13 semi-structured interviews with teachers from various upper secondary schools in Norway, the article contributes to the development of criticism of religion as an analytical category. Based on the teachers' descriptions the article argues that teaching about criticism of religion is a fruitful entrance to learning about, for, and through democracy. The contribution illustrates that metacognitive perspectives, power analyses, professional knowledge, and practical experience are considered central elements to facilitate what this article characterizes as constructive criticism of religion. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hva, hvordan, hvorfor? En studie av norske lærere og elevers erfaringer med lekser i samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Trysnes, Irene A1 - Skjølberg, Katja PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 36 EP - 59 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - home work KW - social science didactics KW - youth AB - The issue of homework is highly debated in both Norwegian and international context. The effect of homework is disputed among researchers. Some argue that students achieve increased learning outcomes from spending time on homework, while others focus on homework as a contributing factor to increasing inequality. In this article, we explore students’ and teachers’ experiences with homework in social studies. We base our study on a survey among secondary school students and interviews with 16 teachers in Norway. Our results indicate that students in general share a more positive view on homework than the teachers. While the teachers worry that homework is too time-consuming and often is given as a form of compensation for what they did not “get through” during school hours, the students report learning outcomes from homework, especially if it is followed up with feedback. However, we find that students are rarely given any feedback on their homework, and that it is often characterized by fact-oriented assignments with a strong focus on the textbook.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Like barn leker best? Ungdomsskoleelevers holdninger til religiøse og verdiorienterte symboler T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Trysnes, Irene A1 - Smeland, Asbjørn PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 187 EP - 208 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religion KW - religious symbols KW - youth KW - symbolic boundaries KW - religious studies and theology AB - The use of religious and value-oriented symbols and clothing in the public sphere has been a theme for several debates in many European countries over the last couple of years. Affiliation and individuality can be non-verbally displayed by wearing symbols. Religious diversity can contribute to a multitude of interpretations of these symbols. In this article we investigate what attitudes youths have regarding the use of religious and value-oriented clothing and symbols. The study has been conducted among youth at five different schools in Southern Norway. The respondents show a tolerant attitude towards most of the symbols in the study. Christian symbols are considered the most positive. Visible symbols which are considered remote from the mainstream culture will make a greater proportion of people distance themselves from it. This study shows a correlation between youth wearing Christian symbols being less positive towards cultural and religious symbols of minority, such as the hijab. Youth who wear, or could imagine wearing a hijab also show a greater acceptance of different expressions and symbols of minority culture.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att utmana bilden av systemet - elever läser visualiseringar av samhällssystem T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tväråna, Malin PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 112 EP - 138 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - visual literacy KW - models KW - system thinking KW - social science education KW - samhällskunskap KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Visual models are used in social science education to describe key societal systems and structures that belong to the canon of the subject. However, little is known about students' ability to read and use these visual representations. The study investigated how students in middle school, high school and upper secondary school understood two different flowcharts of the socio-economic cycle and the democratic system. 22 transcribed group discussions were analysed using phenomenography and variation theory. Critical aspects that were identified concern the discernment of the flowchart as a whole rather than as many parts, to see the relations between the units of the model as reciprocal, to understand that the represented system is constructed and not natural, and to discern that the represented system is related to external factors. The results constitute didactic starting points for teaching that develops students' ability to read and use models in discussions about complex societal systems. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Att utmana bilden av systemet - elever läser visualiseringar av samhällssystem T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tväråna, Malin A1 - Jägerskog, Ann-Sofie A1 - Björklund, Mattias A1 - Carlberg, Sara A1 - Gottfridsson, Patrik A1 - Juthberg, Therese A1 - Kenndal, Robert A1 - Kåks, Bodil A1 - Losciale, Marie A1 - Sahlström, Per A1 - Strandberg, Max PY - 2024 VL - 1 IS - 14 SP - 112 EP - 138 LA - swe PB - : Karlstads universitet KW - visual literacy KW - models KW - system thinking KW - social science education AB - Visuella modeller används i samhällskunskap för att beskriva centrala samhällssystem och strukturer som hör till ämnets kanon. Samtidigt saknas kunskap om elevers förmåga att läsa och använda dessa representationer. I studien undersöktes hur elever på mellanstadiet, högstadiet och gymnasiet förstod två olika flödesscheman över det samhällsekonomiska kretsloppet och det demokratiska systemet. 22 transkriberade gruppsamtal analyserades med hjälp av fenomenografi och variationsteori. Kritiska aspekter som identifierades rör urskiljandet av flödesschemat som en helhet snarare än många delar, att se relationerna mellan modellens enheter som ömsesidiga, att förstå att det representerade systemet är konstruerat och inte naturgivet samt att urskilja att det representerade systemet står i relation till externa faktorer. Resultaten utgör didaktiska utgångspunkter för undervisning som utvecklar elevers förmåga att läsa och använda modeller i diskussioner om komplexa samhällssystem. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Theories of justice among eight-year-olds: Exploring teaching for an emerging ability to critically analyse justice issues in social science T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tväråna, Malin PY - 2018 VL - 4 SP - 43 EP - 64 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - design based research KW - phenomenography KW - teaching and learning KW - social science KW - civics KW - primary education KW - critical thinking KW - analysis KW - social issues KW - ämnesdidaktik med inriktning mot de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - teaching and learning with specialisation in the social sciences education KW - samhällskunskap AB - The study addresses the question of what conditions of teaching that benefits the development of the ability to critically analyse issues of justice in early social science and civics education. It also presents some indications of this emerging ability, where students treat the concept of justice not as a stated or explained fact or viewpoint but as a contested concept that needs critical examination. The analysis shows the possibility for eight-year-olds to start learning how to reason about justice as an essentially contested concept and to start participating in critical analyses of societal issues of distributive justice in a qualified way. This article discusses how teaching can be designed to help younger students develop and qualify the ability to analyse justice issues and proposes indications of such an ability. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Tycka eller tänka om rättvisa – vad främjas i mellanstadiets samhällskunskapsundervisning? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tväråna, Malin PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 136 EP - 161 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies KW - civics KW - social science education KW - activity theory KW - teaching and instruction KW - justice KW - critical thinking KW - samhällskunskap AB - Social science in middle school is often shaped by a crowded curriculum, and directed towards remembering and recapitulating facts rather than developing qualified ways of reasoning about societal issues. Nevertheless, critical reasoning is regarded a crucial ability for social science, both in the national curriculum and by teachers. The article explores teaching designed to benefit students’ possibilities to qualify their critical reasoning about issues of judicial justice in social science education in year 6 of primary school. The focus is on how the actions of students’ and teachers’ build teaching practises that promote or hinder critical reasoning about justice and fairness issues, depending on the motives for social science expressed and mediated through the actions of both teachers and students. Data material in the study consisted of transcribed group discussions and whole class conversations from three cycles of research lessons in a learning study conducted in collaboration with a team of seven primary school teachers. Four subject practises were identified, driven by different motives: participation, identification, deliberation and critical judgment. Actions driven by deliberation and critical judgment benefitted students’ critical reasoning about justice issues, while actions driven by participation and identification conflicted with it. The results may contribute to the discussion within social science didactics about the meaning of critical reasoning and critical judgement as a subject specific ability. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Tycka eller tänka om rättvisa – vad främjas i mellanstadiets samhällskunskapsundervisning? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Tväråna, Malin PY - 2019 VL - 2 SP - 136 EP - 161 LA - swe KW - social studies KW - civics KW - social science education KW - activity theory KW - teaching and instruction KW - justice KW - critical thinking KW - samhällskunskap KW - medborgarbildning KW - samällskunskapsdidaktik KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - verksamhetsteori KW - rättvisa KW - kritiskt tänkande KW - analys KW - ämnesdidaktik med inriktning mot de samhällsvetenskapliga ämnenas didaktik KW - teaching and learning with specialisation in the social sciences education AB - Social science in primary school is often shaped by a crowded curriculum, and directed towards remembering and recapitulating facts rather than developing qualified ways of reasoning about societal issues. Nevertheless, critical reasoning is regarded a crucial ability for civics, both in the national curriculum and by teachers. The article explores teaching designed to benefit students’ possibilities to qualify their critical reasoning about issues of judicial justice in civic education in year 6 of primary school. The focus is on how the actions of students’ and teachers’ build teaching practises that promote or hinder critical reasoning about justice issues, depending on the motives for civics expressed and mediated through the actions of both teachers and students. Data material in the study consisted of transcribed group discussions and whole class conversations from three cycles of research lessons in a learning study conducted in collaboration with a team of seven primary school teachers. Four subject practises were identified, driven by different motives: participation, identity, deliberation and critical judgment. Actions driven by deliberation and critical judgment benefitted students’ critical reasoning about justice issues, while actions driven by participation and identity conflicted with it. The results may contribute to the discussion within social science didactics about the meaning of critical reasoning and critical judgement as a subject specific ability. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Contextualising the contribution of RE scholarly communities to the development of RE didactics in Finland over recent decades T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ubani, Martin PY - 2017 VL - 1 SP - 87 EP - 108 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - scholarly community KW - school KW - religious studies and theology AB - This article will discuss the scholarly communities of religious education in Finland during the past 40 years. In this article I will use material from curricula, dissertations and some key researchers in order to describe the contribution of the scholarly communities in the field of religious education concerning RE. Finally, I point out that multicultural education seems to be beginning to constitute a scholarly community within RE research that could bring dialogue and knowledge-creation in RE research into a new phase. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Finnish Class Student Teachers´ Perceptions of Religious Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ubani, Martin A1 - Kallioniemi, Arto A1 - Poulter, Saila PY - 2015 VL - 2015 SP - 74 EP - 93 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - teacher education KW - primary school teachers KW - student teachers KW - religious studies and theology AB - In this article we explore the perceptions of religious education of Finnish class teacher students. The research questions are: (1) What makes RE an important, positive or negative subject?(2) How the students perceive RE? (3) How do students differ in their attitudes towards RE: (a) in different institutions, (b) based on the personal level of significance of religion, and(c) depending on gender?The data was gathered with a survey that included qualitative open-ended questions and a quantitative section. The data was collected from students (N= 538) in eight teacher education institutions in Finland. According to the study most of the students view religious education as an important subject. They emphasize elements such as education in ethics and values, acquirement of cultural skills and the pupils’ growth as factors that make the subject important. In addition, the student teachers view the subject mostly in positive or neither positive nor negative terms. Pedagogical practice was considered both the solution and problem among the students when they evaluated the aspects that make RE positive and negative. There were some results connected to the personal significance and the location of the teacher education institution. However, gender and age did not make much of a difference to these perceptions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Minnematerialet etter 22. juli som didaktisk ressurs i religions- og livssynsundervisningen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Undseth Bakke, Sidsel A1 - Skeie, Geir PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 42 EP - 67 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - 22. july KW - spontaneous memorials KW - religion KW - education KW - nation KW - emotions KW - religious studies and theology AB - The new Norwegian curriculum for primary, secondary and upper secondary education from 2020 offers possibilities to focus on issues of diversity, citizenship and life skills across subject areas. In religious education there are core elements related to existential questions and taking the perspectives of others. These are among the aims that challenge teachers and students to address questions of religion and belief in the context of both difference and communality. This article discusses how aims like the mentioned can be approached in school by using the memory material that is available from the spontaneous memorials after the terror attacks in Oslo and Utøya 22. July 2011. These sources are discussed as examples of popular reactions after the trauma of the terror attack in the light of literature about spontaneous memorials, lived religion and religious education theory. Further, examples are given of how these sources can be used in a religious education school context. It is suggested that they can stimulate learning both about 22. July, terror and extremism, nationhood and emotions as well as religiosity and values in present society.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lesing og skriving i religions- og livssynsfaget i den norske grunnskolen. En kartlegging av forskningsfeltet 2005-2018 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Unstad, Lars A1 - Stabel Jørgensen, Camilla A1 - Fjørtoft, Henning PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 154 EP - 174 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - reading KW - writing KW - basic skills KW - review KW - religions- og livssynsfaget KW - lesing KW - skriving KW - grunnleggende ferdigheter KW - oversiktsforskning KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Since the introduction of the curriculum Kunnskapsløftet (The Knowledge Promotion Reform), integrating literacy has been a commitment for all subjects in Norway. This review examines research on the basic skills of reading and writing in primary and lower secondary school's religious education in the period 2005-2018. The study identifies three main fields of research: reading, writing, and the relationships between reading and writing skills. Furthermore, the study identifies five conceptual pairs influencing reading and writing in the subject: Knowledge vs. Personal development, Christianity/religion and life views vs. Philosophy/ethics, Textbook knowledge vs. Students’ experience-based knowledge, Everyday language vs. Subjectspecific genres, and Teachers’ role vs. Students’ role. Finally, we discuss the significance of the findings for academic reading and writing in school, and suggest directions for future research on literacy in religious education. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Vedlegg: Lesing og skriving i religions- og livssynsfaget i den norske grunnskolen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Unstad, Lars PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 11 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious studies and theology ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing Finnish and Californian high school students’ historical literacy through a document-based task T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Veijola, Anna A1 - Rantala, Jukka PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 21 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical literacy KW - disciplinary literacy KW - history teaching AB - This article presents a study examining the historical literacy skills of Finnish (N=86) and Californian (N=131) high school students. Our goal was to discover how students read and subsequently interpret historical documents. For this purpose we created a document-based task. We analysed the data by surveying how students interpreted the documents and used them in their texts. The students were capable of identifying the content of each document and most crafted coherent conclusions based on the given sources. The most problematic aspect of historical literacy in our study was contextualising documents. However, there were differences in the results for the groups. Among the Finnish high school students, the variation was great. Those students who mastered historical content knowledge also mastered historical literacy; those whose historical content knowledge or Finnish language skills were weak also had weak historical literacy. This polarization was not evident among the Californian students we examined. However, their disciplinary literacy skills were reduced to generic text skills; students took the document-based interpretation task as a reading comprehension task and did not evaluate the authors’ intentions. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - On teaching what cannot be said: Reflections on the role of the unsayable in religious education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Vestøl, Jon Magne PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 1 EP - 21 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - religion KW - transcendence KW - experience KW - textbooks KW - religious studies and theology AB - This paper discusses how religious education can address the aspects of religion that transcend the limits of verbal communication. It draws on empirical data from group interviews with young Norwegian members of the Catholic and Lutheran Churches. The young informants reflect on aspects of religion that seem to exceed the limits of language and suggest that how religious education deals with these elements needs to be improved if it is to promote respect and understanding for religion and believers. Excerpts from the material are discussed in the light of theological and philosophical perspectives on the unsayable. Finally, possible pedagogical approaches to facilitate the understanding of and dealing with the handling of non-verbal aspects of religious faith are explored, including the use of philosophical perspectives, experiences from art and music and empirical descriptions of religious experience. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Perspectives on Learning and their Implications for the Ethics Education Part of Religious Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Vestøl, Jon Magne PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 108 EP - 132 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - ethics education KW - moral education KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Some national syllabuses of religious education (RE) include aspects of ethics. Since ethics education or moral education (ME) as an international research field has been strongly influenced by theories of development and learning, this article examines the relationship between ethics and three major learning theories. Through an exploratory review of publications from the Journal of Moral Education over the last decades, the paper investigates the role of the behaviourist-empiricist approach, the cognitive approach (Piaget), and the situative-sociocultural approach (Vygotsky). The paper shows that behaviourist-empiricist perspectives have received little attention and have been criticised, while cognitive perspectives have been dominant, and situative perspectives have been considered to some extent. During the last two decades, perspectives from neurobiology have been introduced to address morality in ways that point towards an integration of aspects from the previous traditions. This paper briefly discusses the implications of these findings for ME in light of theoretical perspectives on learning and teaching and point out some issues for further investigation. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Dimensions of historical empathy in upper secondary students’ essays T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Virja, Arja A1 - Kouki, Elina PY - 2014 VL - 2014 SP - 137 EP - 160 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical empathy KW - contextualisation KW - perspective taking KW - affections AB - This article examines upper secondary school students’ understanding of historical empathy. The focus is on how and to what degree they displayed in their essays historical contextualisation, perspective taking and affective connection. The study was based on the essays written by 96 students, using resource-material that comprised background information and historical sources. The students reflected on the controversial issue of Finnish children who were sent to Sweden during World War II. All the three dimensions of empathy were expressed at some level, but contextualisation was most often superficial. The dimension the students managed best was perspective taking, which was related to the affective dimension of the topic. They also applied psychological terminology to this historical issue. It could be concluded from the findings that students need instruments for and have interest in dealing with sensitive and affective historical issues. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence - An Analysis of Discourses from the Extreme T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 12 EP - 33 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - breivik's manifesto KW - discourses KW - multicultural backlash KW - far-right movement KW - subject matter education. KW - religious studies and theology AB - This paper analyses three of the dominating discourses Anders Behring Breivik used in his compendium, the official title of which is 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence, also known as Breivik's Manifesto. It is believed Breivik posted his Manifesto on the Internet shortly before the attacks in Norway in July, 2011. The number 2083 stands for the year when the "Western European Civil War" was expected to be completed, all traitors executed, and all Muslims deported from Europe. This article will discuss dominating discourses in the Manifesto, seen from a background of a European multicultural backlash, in which the political far-right movement is increasing. Furthermore, this article will end with a discussion of education and the importance of analysis of such phenomena within different subjects. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskapsundervisning med utgångspunkt i samhällsfrågor-vad betyder det?: En recension av Göran Morén (2017) Samhällsfrågor som didaktiskt begrepp i samhällskunskap på gymnasieskolan. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin PY - 2017 VL - 3 SP - 106 EP - 110 LA - swe KW - samhällskunskapsundervisning KW - samhällsfrågor KW - gymnasieskolan KW - educational science ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Samhällskunskapsundervisning med utgångspunkt i samhällsfrågor – vad betyder det?: Recension av Göran Moréns licentiatuppsats T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin PY - 2017 VL - 2017 SP - 106 EP - 110 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Skolan är en lättköpt arena - livskunskap i kritisk belysning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin PY - 2013 VL - 2013 SP - 65 EP - 92 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - life competence education KW - social and emotional training KW - behaviourism KW - policy entrepreneurs KW - governmentality KW - sweden. KW - religious studies and theology AB - During the last decade a school subject with the designation of Life Competence Education ("Livskunskap" in Swedish) has emerged in many Swedish schools. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse the subject Life Competence Education, its historical and ideological roots and current place in the curricula of some selected schools. The article is based on analyses of policy documents, interviews and participant observations from fieldwork in two upper secondary schools and in one course for further training of teachers arranged by a municipality. Work by Foucault, especially on governmentality, is used as an analytic tool, as well as work developed from Foucault by Nicolas Rose and Stephen J. Ball. The analyses show that the subject Life Competence Education is constructed in many varied ways in Swedish schools due to different influences, both from the state, but also from private policy entrepreneurs (Ball, 2006). It is also shown that the SET-programme, which is only one example of programmes used for this type of education, is quite widely used in Life Competence Education in Swedish schools. In light of analyses from Foucault and Rose, I suggest that these programmes can be seen as the "psy", i.e. the "psychological domains" (Rose, 1999), entering into the educational arena and with the help of behaviouristic theories constructing "governable subjects" (Foucault, 1988, 1991). This raises questions regarding what kind of subjects are constructed in Life Competence Education, with what kind of methods, as well as how these methods are construed in the light of the Swedish National Curriculum ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Skolan är en lättköpt arena-livskunskap i kritisk belysning. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin PY - 2013 VL - 2 IS - 2013 EP - 2 LA - swe KW - life competence education KW - social and emotional training KW - behaviourism KW - policy entrepreneurs KW - governmentality KW - sweden. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Teachers’ Use of Film in the History Classroom: A Survey of 19 High School Teachers in Norway T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Wagner, David-Alexandre PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 22 EP - 44 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad AB - This article explores the use of films by Norwegian high school teachers in history classes. Empirical data was collected through audio recordings of semi-structured interviews with 19 history teachers from the same urban area in Norway. The article addresses five main questions: To what extent, and how frequently, did they use films in the history classroom? What kind of films and which films did they use? For what purposes? How did they use films? Which challenges did they encounter? Apart from demonstrating a high level of commitment and enthusiasm, our study shows that the teachers’ use of history films was frequent, purposeful and aware of time constraints. Although the teachers used both feature films and documentaries, they had a clear preference for documentaries. They used films for three main reasons: to illustrate content subject matter through an audio-visual resource, for variation, and to enhance empathy. In class, films were more widely used to support the content of lessons or textbooks rather than to promote high-order-thinking competencies. Finally, the informants singled out two major challenges: the lack of time and problems related to the selection of films and, interestingly, some uncertainty about the effect of films on the students’ motivation. All these aspects seem to demonstrate that many teachers are bound by a scientific use of historical films. They would like films to give a “truthful” image of the past rather than considering history films as an interpretation of the past that can or should be questioned. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Skrivpraktiker i historieämnet: Strukturerat textarbete i undervisning om Vasatiden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Walldén, Robert A1 - Lindh, Christina PY - 2021 VL - 1 IS - 11 SP - 54 EP - 79 LA - swe PB - : Karlstad University Press KW - affordances KW - disciplinary literacy KW - history teaching KW - literacy practices KW - sociology of education KW - writing practices AB - In this article, we explore writing as a recurring and structured practice in the teaching of history. A teacher and her Grade 6 students were followed for 12 weeks’ teaching about the Vasa era. The material consists of field notes, transcribed voice recordings, teaching material, and samples of students’ writing. Drawing on the sociology of education, functional theories of writing, and concepts of historical thinking, the result shows that the teacher prioritized organizing information about the era while also, through writing based on images, creating opportunities for imagining, exploring and participating in content-related interaction. Social semiotic analysis highlights how the students employed different ways of taking notes explicitly modelled by the teacher. While the writing practices created some opportunities for learning about important events, understanding the historical significance of the Vasa era, and approaching a historical perspective, ethical dimensions and critical examination of evidence were de-emphasized. Implications for using writing in critical literacy practices of school history are discussed. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Begynneropplæring og nivåspesifikk samfunnsfag- og KRLE-didaktikk for småskoletrinnet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Walmann Hidle, Kari-Mette A1 - Krogstad, Kari PY - 2019 VL - 2019 SP - 122 EP - 148 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - literature review KW - social studies KW - civics KW - citizenship education KW - religious education didactics KW - lower primary levels KW - initial education KW - basic skills KW - early childhood education and care KW - litteraturoversikt KW - samfunnsfagsdidaktikk KW - krle-didaktikk KW - småskoletrinnet KW - begynneropplæring KW - grunnleggende ferdigheter KW - barnehage KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The topic of this article is subject-specific didactics for social studies and religious education for the lower primary level. Since 2017, teacher education for the compulsory education in Norway is extended to a master’s degree and ”initial education” is made a key concept in the trajectory aiming at primary level teaching. The research question in this article is: What is the knowledge base for initial education in social studies and religious education respectively? Thus, the article has a comparative aspect. An analysis of the terms of reference for these educations demonstrates that subject-specific education is made an organising principle and that the basic skills of writing, reading and calculating are prioritised in all studies at the lower primary level. We have analysed the literature for social studies and religious education and found that a common trait between these is that subject-specific didactical research on the lower primary level is scarce. The literature is not concerned with initial education, either in social studies or in religious education. It focuses on subjectspecific topics. The likelihood of the subjects being reduced to a curriculum of basic skills is discussed. Furthermore, we give examples of didactical research on corresponding subjects in the Early Childhood Education and Care, which may well be employed as resources when developing the key elements, content, and methods of these subjects at the lower primary level. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ”Formalistisk obskurantisme”? Forsøk på dechiffrering av læreplanen i samfunnsfag T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Walmann Hidle, Kari-Mette A1 - Skarpenes, Ove PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 24 EP - 50 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - curriculum analysis KW - competence aims KW - core elements KW - interdisciplinary topics KW - social studies didactics KW - teaching profession KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - samhällskunskap AB - In 2020 the new National Curriculum, Knowledge Promotion Reform 2020, was implemented in Norwegian schools. In this article we present a detailed empirical analysis of the relationship between competence aims, core elements (disciplinary knowledge and transversals skills) and interdisciplinary topics in the National Curriculum. The discussion is limited to the school subject social studies at the secondary level (ages 13-15). The findings provide practical knowledge about the curricula that will prove useful for teacher educators and teachers. In the second part of the article, we discuss the implications of the findings and call for a theoretical informed discussion of (1) governance in school, (2) the content of curriculum, and (3) the teachers’ professionalism. We conclude that the curriculum structure is exceptionally complex, lacking both logical integrity and consistency. And since the digital module seems to obscure rather than amend this flaw, we suggest that “formalistic obscurantism” characterises the curriculum.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - History Teaching between Multiperspectivity and a Shared Line of Reasoning: Historical  Explanations in Swedish Classrooms T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Wendell, Joakim PY - 2018 VL - 2018 SP - 136 EP - 159 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history education KW - historical explanation KW - interpretation KW - multiperspectivity AB - This study investigates the presence of multiperspectivity in history teaching through teachers' constructions of historical explanations in classroom interactions.  The concept of multiperspectivity is linked to the related concept of interpretation as a central aspect of comprehension of history, in particular to the idea of including different interpretations of the same historical event or process. This idea, as expressed in the current Swedish history syllabus, is contrasted with the notion of establishing a shared line of reasoning as a central aim of teaching practices. The study is built on classroom observations of three teachers in lower secondary school, and specifically analyses how historical explanations are constructed as more or less open to different interpretations. The results indicate that explanations only occasionally are presented as open to different interpretations, and that the degree of openness is influenced by adaptation to student groups, but also possibly by the content matter. The study suggests that the notion of multiperspectivity may come into conflict with the aim of establishing a shared line of reasoning. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Komparativ religionsundervisning: Teoretiska förutsättningar och didaktiska implikationer T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Wickström, Johan PY - 2022 VL - 4 IS - 12 SP - 47 EP - 77 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - religionsdidaktik KW - jämförelse KW - religionsundervisning KW - religionsfenomenologi KW - jämförande religionsvetenskap KW - curriculum studies KW - education AB - This article focuses how comparisons could be made within RE. The study is a theoretical review of research that culminates in some practical didactic implications för conscious comparisons. The article examines how previous research within the History of Religions and Religious Education has understood and applied comparisons as a method. By identifying ideological and epistemological problems in this research, especially in the phenomoneology of religion and in the everyday practice of RE, the article attempts to formulate some basic principles for more conscious comparisons. The article states that comparisons are central to knowledge-building, but that previous comparisons have had strong biases. Six didactical implications for teaching RE in the elementary school are formulated: 1. Problematize the concepts of religion, 2. Make limited comparisons, 3. Designe the comparison categories consciously, 4. Discuss the aims and results of the comparisons, 5. Focus on similarities and differences and give "thick" context descriptions and 6. Use first-hand sources and texts. By this approach the article provides practical advice for teachers who want to work with comparisons in their teaching while avoiding the most blatant pitfalls.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “Religion” i folkskolans styrdokument – ett bidrag till religionsbegreppets didaktiska historia T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Wickström, Johan PY - 2021 VL - 3 IS - 11 SP - 71 EP - 96 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religionsdidaktik KW - religion KW - religionsbegrepp. religionsundervisning KW - folkskola KW - curriculum studies KW - subject-specific education AB - The article investigates how concepts of “religion” have been formulated in the curriculum of the Folkskola from 1842 to 1955. Previous research has focused on the nationalistic and religious dimensions of this school. Especially the transformation of the subject Christianity (sv. Kristendomskunskap) has been focus for several studies, but the Grundbegriff  ‘religion’, understood as a “essentially contested concept”,  has not been empirically investigated in the light of advanced theoretical discussions about the concept of religion. This article shows how the concept of religion has been didacticised and given specific meanings, contents and educational functions. The study concludes that christocentric concepts and a christian world-order are prevalent during the research period. A moral socialization is gradually replaced by a democratic socialisation where pupils can take different positions and where there is room for dissents. The study also shows how religions have been ranked in different ways. The study contributes to knowledge about change in the concept of religion and to the conditions for teaching Christianity in the Folkskola.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exemplets makt – när ett nytt ämnesinnehåll i religionskunskap realiseras i klassrummet T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Widholm, Tomas PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 26 EP - 45 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religion KW - science KW - creation-evolution-controversy KW - religious education KW - syllabus KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - As a part of the reformation of Swedish upper secondary education in 2011, a new topic was added to the RE syllabus. This topic concern religion and science, and students are expected to learn about different views on the relationship between religion and science. In the syllabus, ‘questions about creation and evolution’ is mentioned as an example but not as a mandatory topic. The aim of this article is to study how the topic ‘religion and science’ is implemented by the teachers and to discuss consequences regarding students learning. All teachers in the study chose to teach about the creation-evolution-controversy. They selected teaching materials representing different opinions in the controversy, mainly a Darwinian position represented by vocal atheists and a theistic-evolutionist position represented by Christians trying to reconcile the theory of evolution with a Christian faith. Students were given assignments where they were expected to read, analyse, and understand quite complicated discussions about the theory of evolution, science, and religion. Teachers claim that ‘religion and science’ is a difficult topic to teach and a great challenge for students to learn, but few have considered to choose other examples. The example mentioned in the syllabus, ‘questions about creation and evolution’, seems to have a strong impact on teaching, for better or for worse. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Essentialism i sekulär religionsundervisning T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Wiktorin, Pierre PY - 2022 VL - 1 IS - 12 SP - 71 EP - 79 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - religious education KW - essentialism KW - world religions paradigm KW - social identity theory KW - study of religions KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education AB - Students on introductory courses in secular religious studies and teacher training programs at Swedish universities often understand and conceptualize religion in an essentialist way. Whilst an essentialist understanding of religions is adequate in confessional training programs, it becomes an obstacle in secular higher secondary education and teacher training programs where an understanding of the variations within religions is required for higher grades. This article discusses four variants of essentialism observed in compulsory religious education, teaching materials and secular teacher training programs: 1) Essentialism in primary and secondary education shaped by the world religions paradigm. 2) Essentialism in religious education and teaching materials due to lack of source criticism towards religious narratives. 3) Essentialist views of religions expressed by (confessional) scholars, and 4) essentialism used in the construction of religious in- and outgroups. The article concludes that teachers involved in religious studies, regardless of level, need to be constant vigilant of expressions of essentialism in their own teaching as well as of essentialism in teaching materials. Although traditional, authoritarian and nationalist (TAN) ideology favors essentialist understandings of religions, these are not compatible with the cosmopolitan values expressed in the Education Act. Furthermore, essentialist education of religion based on the most devoted practitioners’ beliefs and practices creates a milieu where less devoted practitioners´ observance becomes questioned.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The pedagogical content knowledge of Danish geography teachers in a changing schooling context T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Witzel Clausen, Søren PY - 2016 VL - 2016 SP - 1 EP - 22 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geography teachers KW - weather formation and climate change KW - knowledge and bildung KW - geography KW - geografi AB - This study examines the self-reported, topic-specific professional knowledge (TSPK) of Danish geography teachers seen as an aspect of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) when teaching weather formation and climate change. This topic is considered representative of geography teaching in Denmark. In the last ten years Danish primary and lower-secondary schooling has undergone several significant changes, including the introduction of a final multiple-choice exam in geography in 2007, and a fundamental reconstruction of the curriculum in 2014. These changes are expected to influence the TSPK of geography teachers in ways that potentially have an impact on their classroom practice. Teachers´ responses to specific questions relating to their choice of learning goals and the content and organisation of their lessons show that geography teachers take into account not only the knowledge aspects which point to the final multiple-choice exam, but also the ‘bildung’ perspectives of the subject equipping students to develop their own opinions when dealing with socio-scientific issues (SSI). ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Inclusion of Minority Religious Education in the Finnish Comprehensive School: A Teacher and Teacher Coordinator Perspective T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Zilliacus, Harriet PY - 2013 VL - 2 SP - 93 EP - 114 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - inclusion KW - religious minorities KW - teacher perspective KW - religious studies and theology AB - The Finnish education system offers faith-specific religious education throughout the comprehensive school. Today separate minority religious classes are offered parallel to the majority Lutheran and secular ethics education. The purpose of this study is to investigate how minority RE teachers and teacher coordinators view the inclusion of minority religious education in the school culture. Teacher and coordinator perspectives are investigated through an interview study with 23 religion teachers and 3 teacher coordinators in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The results show that teachers and coordinators experienced education as gaining stronger acceptance and equality in the school culture. However, issues of exclusion and discrimination emerged which raise questions on the viability of the current system of RE. The study argues for a need to improve structural issues in education as well as increased teacher participation and dialogue in the school culture. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historiskt tänkande mellan handledare och student: En pilotstudie av praktisk kunskap och den verksamhetsförlagda utbildningen T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Åkerlund, Andreas PY - 2023 VL - 2023 IS - 13 SP - 131 EP - 155 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - verksamhetsförlagd utbildning KW - historiskt tänkande KW - handledning KW - lärarutbildning KW - praktisk kunskap KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - historical studies AB - The article is a pilot study into student-supervisor interaction and the articulation of practical or silent knowledge on how to teach for historical thinking. It investigates experienced teachers’ strategies and methods in teaching during supervision of students during their place-based training. The basic assumption is that experienced teachers’ silent or practical knowledge is articulated in the meeting with less experienced students under their supervision. The used method was therefore to tap into the feedback loops of supervision. This was done through participating in and recording supervision meetings, which was then followed up by interviews with both supervisors and students. The article is therefore also a pilot test of this method. In the material all six aspects of historical thinking were present, although in different ways. No student planes a lesson aiming at teaching historical significance. This dimension was on the contrary very present in the supervisor-student discussions, especially on how to teach the two dimensions continuity and change and cause and consequence. Similarly, the two dimensions primary source evidence and historical perspective-taking were interrelated, especially as primary sources were considered a good way to make pupils take the perspective of historical actors. The ethical dimension of history was not subject to direct teaching, nor present in the supervisor-student discussions. It was however only implicitly present in the way both supervisors and students struggled with how to connect their teaching to everyday life of the pupils and relate it to the societal structures, norms, and values of historical societies. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historielärares syn på historisk kunskap och undervisning om historiebruk T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Åström Elmersjö, Henrik PY - 2021 VL - 2021 IS - 11 SP - 1 EP - 23 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - use of history KW - history teachers KW - genre positions KW - epistemic cognition KW - upper secondary school KW - sweden KW - qualitative content analysis KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - historia med utbildningsvetenskaplig inriktning AB - This article analyses Swedish upper secondary school history teachers’ views regarding teaching the ‘uses of history’ and the potential connections between those views and views regarding the epistemological nature of history in general. In the Swedish syllabus for history, in both compulsory schools and upper secondary schools, ‘uses of history’ is a more or less integrated topic. However, the constructionist view of history that can be seen as at least implicitly embedded in the concept of ‘uses of history’ is perhaps not shared by all teachers. Therefore, this article explores teachers’ views on teaching uses of history in connection to general assumptions about the nature of history. Primarily utilising qualitative content analysis of free-text answers in a questionnaire answered by 375 history teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools, this analysis shows that when discussing uses of history in history teaching many of the arguments are in fact based in epistemological conceptualisations of the subject. Most of the teachers find uses of history interesting, especially ‘misuse’ of history, but they often see it as an add on, as a domain of its own, detached from ‘historical facts’, and they sometimes do not prioritise it. Some teachers, however, see uses of history as the very core of the subject, offering an opportunity to really show their students how history is always an interpretational endeavour and how historical knowledge is always detached from past reality. There was also a smaller group of teachers who turned their back on teaching uses of history on more explicit epistemological grounds because they argue that it takes away from ‘real’ history, which they saw as ‘historical facts’ about what ‘really happened’. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ekskursjon i KRLE-faget: Forkynnelse eller fordomsmotvirkning? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Øierud, Gunnfrid Ljones A1 - Aas, Richard PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 50 EP - 71 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - field trips KW - study trips KW - prejudice KW - faith representatives KW - preaching KW - insider’s perspective KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Field trips to religious and worldview communities are a possible, though somewhat disputed teaching method in the Norwegian RE subject. In this article, we analyze interviews with faith representatives and RE teachers, exploring how they reflect on the outcome of field trips. Both faith representatives and teachers express that field trips acquaint pupils with an insider’s perspective, as well as giving an embodied experience of the material dimension of religions. Applying theories about prejudice and secularization, we also discuss how we can understand the faith representatives’ emphasis on giving a positive experience, accommodating wishes, openness to critique, facilitating a comprehensible account of their religion as a supplement to the RE textbooks, and avoidance of preaching and religious practice. We suggest that this can be interpreted as an effort to reduce prejudice against religions both cognitively and affectively. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Geografiska perspektiv i utbildning av lärare i samhällskunskap T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Örbring, David PY - 2014 IS - 1 SP - 41 EP - 52 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - geography education KW - social studies KW - interdisciplinary KW - higher education KW - pedagogik och utbildningsvetenskap KW - pedagogics and educational sciences KW - geography AB - Teachers in Social Studies can benefit from geographical perspectives in their teaching of Social Studies in elementary and high school. The aim is to connect geographical perspectives to various social processes and to integrate it in teaching of Social Studies. But how can the relevance of geographical perspectives in an education for teachers in Social Studies be motivated and to what benefits can it be internalized? I will try to answer that question in this article. This relevance is mainly, with basis in a literature study, focused on democracy, sustainable development and digital literacy. It is also relevant by giving teachers a broader teaching skill and thus they are able to help pupils achieve higher-order skills. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Subject-specific abilities – Formulating goals in geography in school T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Örbring, David PY - 2020 VL - 2020 SP - 1 EP - 35 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - curriculum study KW - geography education KW - sweden KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article analyzes and discusses the construction of the Swedish syllabus in geography for compulsory school in relation to how knowledge is perceived in the curriculum. The process of making the syllabus and the intentions behind the concept of subject-specific abilities in the policy documents constitutes an important aspect. The article also discusses subject-specific abilities in national and international contexts and subject-specific abilities is compared with other related terms, such as abilities, skills, and competence. The research was conducted through qualitative methods: review and analysis of official and internal documents and interviews with stakeholders involved in the process of formulating the policy documents. The results are organized in six steps to describe the process of making the syllabus, and through different intentions of the abilities in the process. The six steps and the intentions are a foundation to analyze zones of conflicts and to investigate how knowledge in school geography can be understood in the making of the syllabus. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Introduktion Nordidactica 2011:1: Ett aktivt men outvecklat forskningsfält T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Broman, Anders A1 - Samuelsson, Johan PY - 2011 VL - 1 LA - swe PB - Karlstad CSD ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Literacy in Non-Confessional Religious Education and Religious Studies in Sweden T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Enstedt, Daniel PY - 2022 IS - 1 SP - 27 EP - 48 LA - eng KW - religious literacy KW - curriculum studies KW - religious education KW - lived religion KW - critical religion ER - TY - JOUR T1 - How to make a better world: A study of adoelscent deliberations in a problem-solving simulation T2 - Nordidactica-Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Eränpalo, Tommi A1 - Karhuvirta, Tiina PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 54 EP - 83 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - civic education KW - social studies teaching KW - critical thinking KW - grounded theory KW - civic engagement KW - simulations KW - samhällskunskap AB - The article examines the impact of the teaching methods in social studies on the classroom atmosphere and on the students’ motivation, attitudes and engagement. School as a social space consists of several layers and role differentiations, the existence of which may not have been widely recognised and which may prevent students from adopting an active role in class discussions. Particularly from the perspective of teaching social studies, it is essential to create a deliberative atmosphere in the classroom, so that social issues are seen as genuinely open, controversial and approachable from different angles – in other words, as political. The article presents a qualitative case study in which a group of Nordic young people processes problems found in society by playing a simulation game called Act Now!. The data gathered from playing the game has been analysed based on grounded theory and the Straussian inductive-deductive approach. The study examines simulation as a method that has an impact on the learning environment. Simulation can be seen as a method that opens new fruitful possibilities for addressing societal issues in social studies teaching from the interdisciplinary point of view. The results suggest that a proper pedagogic approach for a social interaction creates an atmosphere that allows all students to participate and feel included. This experience of classroom contribution strengthens young people’s positive self-image as citizens who care about public issues. Therefore experiences of classroom contribution should be set more in the focus in social studies education today. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2018:3 T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2018 VL - 3 IS - 2018 EP - 3 LA - swe ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial 2018:4 T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2018 VL - 4 EP - 4 LA - swe ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Essentialism i religionsundervisningen: Ett religionsdidaktiskt problem T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hylén, Torsten PY - 2012 VL - 2 SP - 106 EP - 137 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD, Karlstad Universitet KW - essentialism KW - religious education KW - family resemblances KW - prototype theory KW - benson saler KW - religionsdidaktik KW - intercultural studies KW - interkulturella studier AB - Essentialist concepts of religion are common in the teaching of religion in schools and to a certain extent also in the academic discipline of religious studies. In this article, a number of problems with essentialist perceptions of religion are discussed. In the first part of the article a thesis is maintained, according to which essentialist conceptions of religion or specific religions are too limited to be of value in the teaching of religion. This is done through examples of essentialist expressions about religion. The examples are grouped according to a typology of different kinds of essentialism. Two main categories, each with two sub-categories are identified. Thus, the category of essentialism regarding the substance of religion is divided into transcendental or theological essentialism (which presupposes the existence of a sacred power of some kind, the experience of which is the basis for religion), and core essentialism (where it is presupposed that certain ideas or concepts constitute religion as a general category or specific religions). Likewise, the category of essentialism regarding the function of religion has two sub-categories: positive and negative essentialism. These kinds of essentialism presuppose that religion or specific religions are inherently good or harmful respectively to human beings. Examples from each of these categories are given and discussed. In the second part of the article, Benson Saler’s open concept of religion is presented as an alternative to essentialist or bounded perceptions. It is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of family resemblances and on prototype theory. In connection with this, it is argued that a certain kind of conscious ethnocentrism is needed as a point of departure in the study and teaching of religion. The metaphor of education as a journey from the familiar out into the unfamiliar and back again is suggested as a possible pattern for such teaching. Finally,some examples of non-essentialist ways to introduce religions are offered. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Essentialism i religionsundervisningen, ett religionsdidaktiskt problem T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Hylén, Torsten PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 106 EP - 137 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - : essentialism KW - religious education KW - family resemblances KW - prototype theory KW - benson saler KW - religionsdidaktik KW - religious studies and theology AB - Essentialist concepts of religion are common in the teaching of religion in schools and to a certain extent also in the academic discipline of religious studies. In this article, a num­ber of problems with essentialist perceptions of religion are discussed. In the first part of the article a thesis is maintained, according to which essentialist conceptions of religion or spe­cific religions are too limited to be of value in the teaching of religion. This is done through exam­ples of essentialist expressions on religion. The examples are grouped according to a typol­ogy of different kinds of essentialism. Two main categories, each with two sub-categories are identified. Thus, the category of essentialism regarding the substance of religion is divided into transcendental or theological essentialism (which presupposes the existence of a sacred power of some kind, the experience of which is the basis for religion), and core essentialism (where it is presupposed that certain ideas or concepts constitute religion as a general category or specific religions). Likewise, the category of essentialism regarding the function of religion has two sub-categories: positive and negative essentialism. These kinds of essentialism presup­pose that religion or specific religions are inherently good or harmful respectively to human be­ings. Examples from each of these categories are given and discussed. In the second part of the arti­cle, Benson Saler’s open concept of religion is presented as an alternative to essentialist or bounded perceptions. It is based on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s idea of family resemblances and on proto­type theory. In connection with this, it is argued that a certain kind of conscious ethnocen­trism is needed as a point of departure in the study and teaching of religion. The metaphor of educa­tion as a journey from the familiar out into the unfamiliar and back again is suggested as a possible pattern for such teaching. Finally, some examples of non-essentialist ways to intro­duce religions are offered. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Headmasters´Conceptions of the Finnish Religious Education - Solution from the Perspective of Human Rights T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Kallioniemi, Arto A1 - Matilainen, Mia PY - 2011 VL - 2 SP - 1 EP - 14 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - religious education (re) KW - human rights KW - finland KW - headmasters KW - freedom of religion KW - qualitative interviews KW - religious studies and theology AB - There has been much discussion about the most suitable model of religious education (RE hereafter) in public schools all around Europe. The Finnish model of RE has attracted great interest, because in Finland RE is given according to one’s own religion. The Finnish model of RE is very unique and it emphasises the right of religious minorities to participate in RE according to their own religion in state-owned schools. In this article we examine headmasters’ conceptions of the current Finnish RE solution from the perspective of human rights.  The study is based on qualitative interviews. Headmasters presented both advantages and disadvantages of the current RE solution. These advantages are briefly: freedom of religion, an opportunity to get RE according to one´s own religion, knowing one´s own roots, an opportunity to understand people from different religious backgrounds and an opportunity to study other religions for those students who are not members of religious communities. The limits of the solution are that it puts students into their own religious groups and this limits possibilities for religious dialogue, which should be one of the key elements of modern RE. RE has a strong potential to promote human rights. It is important to discuss different models of arranging education from the viewpoint of human rights. The human rights viewpoint should be central when dealing with the aims, contents and organization structure of RE. Different interpretations of religious freedom and the right to religious education are important considerations especially for RE.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historiska medier: Forskarskola i historia med didaktisk inriktning (ForHiM) T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lindmark, Daniel PY - 2011 VL - 2 SP - 91 EP - 92 LA - swe ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Finländska gymnasieelevers reflektioner över historiska gottgörelser - Vilka implikationer ger det för historieundervisningen i Finland? T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfström, Jan PY - 2011 VL - 2 SP - 64 EP - 88 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - historiska gottgörelser KW - historiemedvetande KW - historieundervisning KW - gymnasium KW - finland KW - fokusgrupp AB - The article discusses a study of what Finnish high school students think of the idea of reparing historical injustices. The philosophical and political aspects of historical reparations have been analyzed widely but there is a lack of research on how people actually ponder on such reparations. The topic is relevant for history teaching because people's reflections on historical reparations also tell about their historical consciousness more generally, e.g. regarding what they see as plausible explanations in history. The study is based on fourteen focus group interviews, made in 2008- 2009; the number of interviewed students was fifty-three. The article analyses the students’s reflections from the perspective of what the students think of the possibility of historical continuity in the context of transgenerational moral obligations and responsibilities. The article relates the findings to earlier studies of Finnish adolescents' historical consciousness and societal thinking, and it also ponders on the consequences of the analysis to the development of history teaching and history curricula in Finland. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fra kunnskap, via kontekst, kjerne og komparasjon til kommunikasjon. En fagdidaktisk utviklingslinje? T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ongstad, Sigmund PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 1 EP - 25 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - communication KW - core disciplinarity KW - disciplinary didactics KW - fagdidaktikk KW - kjernefaglighet KW - kommunikasjon KW - subject didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Several studies of disciplinary didactics (Norw. fagdidaktikk) describe the field as expansive and changing. The article interprets perceptions of such dynamic changes as results of encounters between given knowledge and new contexts in which disciplines and school subjects communicate, such as practices and projects, and hence as products and processes. It is argued that the expansion will challenge the so-called disciplinary core and that growth in turn generates both general and comparative disciplinary didactics. Definitions of disciplines and school subjects have traditionally tried to trace and segregate significant core elements. However, studies of ‘core disciplinary’ in comparative perspective rather seem to conceive similarities and differences more in terms of accentuation of certain shared/not shared elements or aspects. A key hypothesis is that this emphasis is influenced by how disciplines are related to certain constitutive aspects of (communicative) utterances. This means that focus on communicational aspects such as form, content, action, time and place will correspond with prioritised disciplinary aspects such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, chronology and topology, respectively. It is further described how disciplines stress their ‘essential’ disciplinarity by emphasising certain main and sub-aspects in such ‘sets’. It is concluded tentatively that theories of communication can help revealing systemic connections in the didactic field between developmental patterns of key concepts such as knowledge, context, comparison and communication. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “A Sense of the Moral Weight of the Past”: Framing Ethical and Affective Significance in Relation to Swedish Middle-School Students and Historical Empathy T2 - Nordidactica -Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sjölund Åhsberg, Cathrine A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2026 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 62 EP - 86 LA - eng KW - historical thnking history education histroical significance ethical significance affective significance historical empathy ethical judgments guilt action readiness ER - TY - JOUR T1 - "Det i sig selv värdifulde" Om skjönnhetserfaringens relevans i den norske grunnskolens RLE-fag T2 - Nordidactica-Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Stubö, Ingebjörg PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 31 EP - 53 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - norwegian primary and lower secondary school KW - re-subject KW - aestethic experience KW - dorthe jörgensen KW - religious studies and theology AB - In a verdict from The European Court of Human Rights in 2007 nine out of seventeen judges said that the Norwegian RLE-subject (Religion,Worldviews and Ethics) violated the parents’ right to give their children an education in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions. In the aftermath of this verdict, changes were made in the curriculum for the RLE-subject for Norwegian primary and lower secondary schools. The word experience was excluded from the curriculum, and engaging teaching methods were less emphasized. These changes should help to prevent the subject from being perceived as  practice of religion rather than the communication of knowledge about religion and belief that the curriculum requires. The article concerns the aesthetic dimension of the RE-subject and asks whether aesthetic experiences are relevant to the RE-subject. The discussion is performed on the background of the curriculum for the RLE-subject and the national curriculum for primary and lower secondary school. The theoretical foundation is mainly derived from the Danish philosopher Dorthe Jørgensen's understanding of aesthetic experience. The discussion shows that aesthetic experience is not clearly expressed as an aim in the RLE- curriculum. Nonetheless such aesthetic experiences may have an important function in RE because they can help to fulfill the RLE-subject’s rationale, expressed in the curriculum’s formulations of purpose: to promote knowledge and understanding for religions and beliefs.  A deliberate exclusion of the aesthetic experience could lead to a reductionist view, not only of artistic expression in RLE, but of art in general. To prevent students from experiencing the encounter with religious art as practice of a religion they do not identify with, the teacher may use narrative theory. In religious stories as well as religious art, the possibility to identify different dimensions is available: for example a dimension dealing with specific religious themes and a general existential dimension. These dimensions are an attempt to structure the possible diversity of interpretations facing both stories and art in RLE, and students may choose how they will relate to the dimensions mentioned. Such a strategy can be used in the face of visual art that may be at risk to generate religious experiences. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The role of movies in Norwegiantextbooks.: A study of film as artefact in religious education. T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Vestøl, Jon Magne PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 84 EP - 105 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstads universitet KW - religious education KW - textbook KW - religious studies and theology AB - Drawing on perspectives on educational design, this article investigates the role of movies in Norwegian secondary school textbooks on religious education, including teachers’ handbooks and textbook websites. All passages containing references to films or movies have been included in the analysis. The distribution of references indicates that a film is an optional artefact and that movies are drawn mainly from a Western cinematic tradition and are related to topics such as Christianity and ethics. When textbook assignments introduce movies as artefacts mediating the understanding of religious issues, information about the message and the artistic role of the film seems to be downplayed. This indicates a need for reflection on how artefacts such as films are introduced into educational activity. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Finska kriget 1808-1809 i svenska och finska gymnasieböcker i historie T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Virta, Arja PY - 2012 VL - 2012 SP - 54 EP - 79 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - läroböcker i historia KW - läroboksanalys KW - finska kriget KW - gymnasieböcker KW - subject didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The article discusses how a historical turning point, the Finnish war 1808–1809, has been described in a sample of Swedish and Finnish upper secondary school history textbooks. A chronological comparison is made in order to examine the changes over time. A question of interest is if there are national differences in the perspectives of the texts.  The article presents a tentative typology based on the breadth and depth of the descriptions. In general, the descriptions of the Finnish war events have become shorter. However, the Finnish textbooks give more space to this event, while the Swedish textbooks, especially since the 1960s, only mention the war briefly. The description of this war exemplifies the shifting preferences in the choice of content, and the changing foci of historical knowledge in history textbooks. More generally, the changes in this topic can also be explained by the varying conceptions of national history and different historical cultures in these countries. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reality Can Bite: Perspectives of Young People on the Role of Religion in Their World T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von der Lippe, Marie PY - 2011 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 15 EP - 34 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - religion KW - identity KW - ethnicity KW - diversity KW - young people/adolscents KW - discourse KW - school KW - and religious education KW - religious studies and theology AB - Despite the vast research on young people and identity issues in recent years, little is still known about the role of religion in adolescents’ lives across various ethnic, religious, and belief-related scenarios. The overall sense is that young people in general do not care about religion, and religion is of little or no importance in their daily lives. This article contributes to that discussion through extensive qualitative interviews with students from different ethnic, religious, and non-religious backgrounds. An analysis of these interviews yields explanations that complicate and sometimes even challenge widely held assumptions about young people and religion, and add new information and nuances to the general understanding of the interplay between ethnicity, religion, and skin colour. This study is part of a larger European project on young people and religion in education (REDCo). Focusing on students aged 14-16, and their discursive constructions on religion and diversity, the findings also contribute important knowledge to school in general, and for religious education teachers in particular. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The landscapes that Finnish children and adolescents want to conserve - a study of pupils´drawings in Basic Education T2 - Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Yli-Panula, Eija A1 - Eloranta, Varpu PY - 2011 VL - 1 SP - 35 EP - 63 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD KW - built environment KW - drawing development in pupils KW - finnish pupil´s drawings KW - landscape KW - nature KW - social environment KW - geography KW - geografi AB - A landscape is an experienced environment, which can be perceived by senses and feelings or through cognition processes. The background hypotheses of this study comprise the idea that the landscape which somebody would like to conserve is, in one way or another, important and valuable to her or him. The person undoubtedly has positive experiences and images of this environment. The present study used students’ drawings to analyze their conceptions of the landscape. The conceptions differ both in content and in quality and they are dependent on age and experiences. The aim of this study was to analyze the drawings of a group of Finnish pupils (N=324) in basic education to find out the landscape they would like to conserve and to find out their relation to the environment. Pupils from grades 1-2, 5-6 and 8-9 participated. The results show that the nature landscape was the most common one in all age groups. In the nature landscapes the following issues were usually present: vegetation, especially trees, often also flowers (in girls’ drawings), water elements, the sky and the sun. Furthermore, dominating contents in the nature landscapes were water elements, like creeks, rivers, small lakes, lakes or the sea. Many of the nature drawings contained forest. One third of the landscapes represented a built environment, the so-called cultural landscape, where the nature landscape had been more or less changed by human activity The number of these built landscapes did not vary markedly between the three age groups. The third of the main categories, a landscape where human beings were physically present in the landscapes, was the most infrequent and was relatively most often drawn by pupils in grades 5-6. The boys valued more landscapes modified by human activity compared to the landscapes valued by girls. In conclusion: the landscapes in the drawings of these Finnish pupils in basic education were strongly connected to the nature and this result is in line to the original Finnish definition of the landscape. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Forskning om nationella prov i samhällsorienterande ämnen – några aktuella exempel T2 - Nordidactica. Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education Vol 15 Nr 2025:2. (2025) SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Franck, Olof A1 - Larsson, Kristoffer A1 - Lilja, Annika A1 - Osbeck, Christina PY - 2025 VL - 2 IS - 15 EP - 2 LA - swe KW - nationella prov KW - samhällsorienterande ämnen KW - interkulturell kompetens KW - prov och betygssättning KW - fakta- och begreppskunskap som procedural kunskap KW - likvärdighet ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Knowledge of Life and Death! A Classroom Study of Gender Negotiations among Pupils and Teachers in Primary School History Education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Axinder, Emma A1 - Larsen, Pontus PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 110 EP - 127 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v14i2024:2.26163 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - gender norms KW - history education KW - primary school KW - subject positions KW - postfeminism KW - subject-specific education AB - In this article, we analyse how gendered subject positions during the Middle Ages are talked about in the history education classroom in primary school. Discourses about gender norms in the past were followed by discourses about how to interpret these differences and injustices, where we see that: i) the interpretations are constructed as being linked to biology, ii) teacher and pupils construct a present ‘us’ who understand better than a past ‘they’, an us who have greater freedom of action to choose for ourselves how to live our lives, and where iii) this is explained by the view that mediaeval people did not understand very well. It is between these discourses that the negotiation of how to interpret gender norms and gendered positions takes place. Negotiations result in a discourse that stresses today’s society as one of equality and equity. These discourses also enable various counter-discourses in which pupils challenged the constructions of women in the past offered by the teacher and textbook in the classroom. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Bruket av teori i nordisk historiedidaktisk forskning: En studie av det teoretiska ramverket i 59 artiklar publicerade i Nordidactica 2011–2022 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Persson, Anders A1 - Berg, Mikael PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 1 EP - 25 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v14i2024:3.25835 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - theory KW - theoretical framework KW - history didactics KW - research field KW - bourdieu KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In most research fields, and for a delimited period, certain theories tend to gain a stronger position than others. Correspondingly, also the way in which theory is used tend to shift over time. New theories displace old ones, and the view of the functioning of the theoretical framework is changed (Tosh 2011; Grant & Osanloo 2014; Lingard 2015). Thus, in this article we have chosen to map a specific aspect of a specific research field, as expressed in a specific Nordic subject didactic journal. The purpose of this article is to analyse the use of theory in the 59 history didactic articles published in Nordidactica between the years 2011 and 2022. On a very general level, our findings shows that analytical categories often are formulated in advance. Hence, the chosen theories are also largely determining how the researched empirical data is evaluated and explained. The results imply that from a diversity perspective (cf. Bourdieu 1991; 1992; Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992) it would be valuable if, alongside those theory driven studies that, on the basis of a rather limited amount of ready-made analytical categories seek to evaluate or explain students' and teachers’ ability to think historically, there in the future also would be a greater number of studies who more openly try to interpret and understand human experiences of history and history teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The emotional dimension of history education: Examining policy, content and interaction through the example of 1860s Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Heuman, Johannes PY - 2024 VL - 2024 IS - 14 SP - 76 EP - 97 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v14i2024:3.26525 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - emotions KW - emotional community KW - history didactics KW - interaction KW - content KW - educational history KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - historical studies AB - Emotions play a significant role in history education, yet their impact remains a subject of debate. This theoretical article investigates how integrating perspectives on emotions from the humanities, particularly the history of emotions, can enrich research in history didactics and educational history. It proposes a three-step analytical model to examine the evolving role of emotions by focusing on (1) policy, (2) content and (3) interactions. This model facilitates research on emotions in history teaching in both contemporary and historical contexts, with a focus on the representation of emotions through language. The analytical framework is tested through a case study of history education in the 1860s Swedish grammar school. The author argues for recognising emotions as a crucial component of history education and incorporating concepts from the history of emotions into both didactics and educational history. This approach offers new insights into the emotional dimensions of history education, highlighting opportunities, challenges and areas of conflict. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ni grunnsteiner for undervisning om kjønn og kjønnsidentitet. Et bidrag til etablering av trygge rom for meningsmangfold. T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Andreassen, Øyvind Soltun PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 90 EP - 121 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.26117 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - gender education KW - gender identity KW - lived norms KW - controversial issues KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This paper presents nine foundation stones for teaching about sex, gender and gender identity, proposed by the author as a basis for pragmatic consensus on how these issues should be addressed in Norwegian public schools. Initially integrated into a pedagogical design for Religion and Worldview Education teacher candidates, the foundation stones were subsequently refined through iterative feedback from a wide range of school actors and stakeholders. Following an exposition of these developmental stages, the paper will discuss the foundation stones in relation to norm-critical pedagogy, as it is presented and employed by two influential Norwegian teacher educators. Considerable alignments exist between their norm-critical approach and the foundation stones. A notable divergence, however, regards the role of disagreement in learning about gender issues. While the foundation stones explicitly promote student engagement with a wide range of perspectives and understandings, the norm-critical approaches in question imposes significant limitations on binary understandings’ access to the classroom. Although these limitations rest on vital concerns to safeguard transgender or gender questioning students, they risk obscuring critical distinctions within gender conservative viewpoints. To address this issue without jeopardizing the well-being of vulnerable students, the author recommends, firstly, to amplify teachers’ responsibility to ensure student safety through context-sensitive adjustments of how a given class should interact with the diversity of viewpoints. Secondly, to incorporate a lived perspective on norms into norm-critical approaches. This will enable students to critically and emphatically explore the diversity of norms arising from the ways humans navigate and apply norms in specific situations and in relation to other norms. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Problematisk skolfrånvaro i relation till skola och undervisning - ett ämnesdidaktiskt perspektiv T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Jäverby, Annica A1 - Osbeck, Christina A1 - Stolare, Martin PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 EP - 1 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.26238 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - problematic school absence KW - school absence KW - school attendance KW - social sustainability KW - didactic KW - subject matter education KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - religious studies and theology AB - The purpose of this study is to investigate the content selection and transformation processes utilised by upper primary teachers for pupils with problematic school absences in history and religious education. While previous research has approached the topic from either an individual perspective or a relational school perspective, this study adopts a subject-didactics approach. Based on nine teacher interviews, the analyses were conducted stepwise, initially inductively and then in relation to Wolfgang Klafki's framework, combined with established concepts from history education and religious education research. The content emphasized for pupils generally aligns closely with Klafki's assertions regarding what is essential, namely, content that aims to develop pupils' understanding of society, thereby becoming both subjectively and objectively meaningful. For pupils with problematic school absences, a pattern emerges where the subjectively meaningful, reflecting the pupil's interests, is emphasized more. The article discusses the risk that this may lead to limited opportunities for this group of pupils to broaden their perspectives and knowledge in order to understand and navigate in society.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Förslag till vidgad förståelse av ett ämnesspråk: So-didaktiska överföringsbegrepp T2 - Nordidactica. Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Nordmark, Jonas A1 - Bergman Rimbe, Karin PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 55 EP - 70 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.26293 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstad University KW - didaktiska begrepp KW - so-undervisning KW - bernstein KW - ämnesspråk KW - subject-specific education AB - Within science education studies and research on subject language a key discussion is how to use metaphorsin teaching to make the subject accessible and understandable for the students. Words and concepts used canbe abstractand therefore in need of metaphors and analogies inorder to be correctly conceptualizedin a teaching context. Metaphors and analogies can however lead to incorrect conclusions because of their inherent ambiguity. In this article we argue that the social science subjects need a corresponding discussion regarding the metaphors and analogies that describe the social sciences subjects complex and abstract subject content. We state,based on Bernstein (1974/2003; 1990; 1999),that–what we call –didactic transfer concepts have a vitalrole in forming asubject matter language för the social sciences. Didactic transfer concepts are widely used in teaching. By illuminating these didactic transfer concepts, the prerequisites for a common subject matter language can be conceptualized. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A didactic model for teaching social studies: Contributing to rich tasks T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Halse, Rolf PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 1 EP - 26 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.26479 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - bildung KW - social studies education KW - didactic analysis KW - rich tasks KW - didactic triangle KW - didactic models KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article proposes a didactic model for teaching social studies, presenting selected didactic categories that support teaching rich tasks. Rich tasks exhibit characteristics such as purposeful connections to the world beyond the classroom and offer diverse opportunities to cater to the different needs of students (Aubusson et al., 2014). The model is developed using a semantic theoretical approach (Kvernbekk, 2005). The didactic relation model for lesson planning (Hiim & Hippe, 1998; 2006) serves as a framework offering tools for planning and reflection on teaching to facilitate students’ learning and studying. Drawing on Klafki’s theory of categorical Bildung and didactics (Klafki, 1963; 2000) the new model aims to explore how rich tasks can be merged with categorical Bildung in teaching. It emphasizes how ‘why’ questions related to the educator’s ability to analyse subject content can be related to the students’ lifeworld. Additionally, the article outlines and discusses key didactic categories applicable to teaching rich tasks in social studies. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Historieundervisning under klima- og naturkrise: Å vurdere skala, menneskeleg agens og historisk-planetarisk endring T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Fagerheim Kalsås, Vidar PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 71 EP - 89 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.26569 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - antropocen KW - nature and climate crisis KW - history education KW - education for sustainable development KW - klima- og naturkrise KW - historieundervisning KW - bærekraftsdidaktikk KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The climate- and nature crisis has gained increased attention in the public sphere and within the field of education in recent years. In this context, history as a school subject has the potential to play an important role by developing pupils' insights into the historical, and thus the human-driven, aspects of the climate- and nature crisis. This article explores the debates about the discipline of history in the Anthropocene age and examines if perspectives and concepts from this literature can be operationalized into valuable tools for analyzing and assessing history teaching. The exploration has resulted in three theoretical tools in the form of analytical questions concerning scales for time and space, human agency, and historical-planetary change. The tools have been used to analyze three Norwegian textbooks in history for upper-secondary schools. The analysis is oriented towards exploring if the textbooks make the historical dimension of the climate- and nature-crisis tangible. The result of the analysis indicates that the climate- and nature crisis constitutes a challenge in Norwegian history teaching, where central disciplinary perspectives and categories disappear when questions concerning climate and nature are addressed.   ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2025:1 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Niemi, Kristian A1 - Modig, Niclas PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:1.28000 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - subject didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - subject-specific education AB - Editorial Nordidactica 2025:1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing Intercultural Competence through Swedish National Tests of Social Science: A Validation Study T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Al-Afifi, Markus PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 1 EP - 28 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:2.26748 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - intercultural competencies KW - national test KW - social science KW - validity KW - construct KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Despite concerted efforts of international organisations to advocate for the integration of intercultural competence (IC) into all facets of education, IC remains under-theorised in large-scale and social science assessments. By utilising the Swedish National Tests of Social Science (NTSS) as a resource for evaluating students’ IC, this study examines all available NTSS test items to provide an exhaustive review of the IC aspects addressed in NTSS content over its first decade of existence. In total, 210 NTSS test items were used from 2013 to 2022, of which 46 were deemed interculturally relevant. The results indicate that the NTSS capture several aspects of global knowledge, social knowledge, and perspective-taking. In contrast, there has been limited testing of cultural knowledge, reflexivity, and respect, suggesting variability in the NTSS’ coverage of the IC construct. The findings demonstrate NTSS’s utility beyond its primary functions as an external grading instrument of social science, offering insights into its assessment capacity, which transcends the assessment parameters drawn by the Swedish National Education Agency.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Why differences in national test results are critical beyond the grades: Historical knowledge as (un)equally distributed prerequisites for societal participation T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Rosenlund, David A1 - Deltner, Johan A1 - Bruér, Mikael A1 - Persson, Magnus PY - 2025 VL - 2 IS - 15 SP - 50 EP - 72 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:2.26750 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - large scale assessment KW - knowledge types KW - dimensions of education KW - history education KW - socio-economic status KW - pedagogics and educational sciences KW - pedagogik och utbildningsvetenskap KW - subject-specific education AB - Historical knowledge, along with knowledge acquired in other subjects, is crucial for individuals to make sense of and engage with the world around them. Evidence suggests that educational systems fail to adequately support disadvantaged groups in accessing the knowledge conveyed through education. This article presents a study comparing the historical knowledge of students attending lower-secondary schools in varying socio-economic environments. Using regression analysis and concept analysis, we examine responses (n=100) to both selected-and constructed-response items from the Swedish national test in history. The sampled items address factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge types, and the results indicate consistent differences between students from low SES and high SES schools across all types of knowledge. Findings also show that socio-economic status has a larger explanatory value than gender or mother tongue. The differences regarding historical knowledge are discussed in relation to Biesta’s three dimensions of education, providing a philosophical perspective on the broader implications of these disparities in educational success. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - De nationella SO-provens effekt på betyg – insikter från ett lotteriexperiment T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Alm Fjellborg, Andreas PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 29 EP - 49 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:2.26752 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - national test KW - grading KW - social science subjects KW - grade effects KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Students in grade 9 receive grades in all four social science subjects. In subjects with national tests, results must be given particular weight in grading. The tests in the four subjects are randomly assigned across schools, each school takes only one test but assigns grades in all subjects. This allows estimation of the effect of standardized tests on grades by comparing schools that received a test in a given subject with schools that did not. Using data from 2013-2023, the study shows - consistent with international research - that tests generally raise grades. Differences between school providers are small, but effects vary with the share of students with foreign background and are weaker in municipalities with strong school competition. This suggests higher overall grading in competitive areas and that tests may be used to acquit rather than penalize students. The findings raise questions about the purpose and future role of national tests. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Investigating DIF: The role of response format for students following the syllabus for Swedish as a second language– Experiences from the Swedish National Tests in Social Studies T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Löfstedt, Arne A1 - Bergh, Daniel PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 73 EP - 98 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:2.26762 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - civics KW - differential item functioning KW - national tests KW - psychometric analysis KW - response formats KW - social studies KW - subject-specific education KW - swedish as a second language KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - In developing the national tests in Social Studies, a critical issue is ensuring that the items work in the same way for subgroups of students, i.e., the test is fair and shows no signs of severe Differential Item Functioning (DIF). In Sweden, the nationaltests will be digitalized, but items with a selected response format (SR) is also intended to increase. This study aims to analyze how different items (defined by varying formats and contents) function for students following the syllabus of Swedish as a second language (SvA) compared to the general student population. The study is based on data from the Swedish national tests in Social Studies in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023. The results reveal that there are DIF between the two syllabus groups: Students following the SvA syllabus have more difficulties compared to Sv students, with SR items. However, SvA students perform significantly better on some constructed response items where they are asked to describe, analyze, and elaborate on a topic using their ownlanguage. As this study shows that the SvA group has significantly more difficulties compared to the general student group with the SR items that are intended to increase due to digitalization, there seems to be an obvious risk for this group to be disadvantaged. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ”Intressant, relevant och medborgarbildande!” Ämneslärarstudenter i samhällskunskap om sitt ämne när de påbörjar sina studier T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Florin Sädbom, Rebecka A1 - Öberg, Joakim PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 28 EP - 61 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.26369 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - social studies KW - civics KW - subject teacher education KW - pre-service teacher KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - The aim of the study is to explore pre-service teachers' subject knowledge in social studies prior to becoming enrolled in teacher education. Pre-service teachers from five different cohorts spanning the years 2017–2021 were invited to fill out a questionnaire regarding their subject knowledge of social studies. A total of 69 out of 78 (88,5 %) students responded to the questionnaire and the results are presented thematically. It becomes apparent that most students have a basic understanding of the academic content of the social studies subject based on the sub-disciplines that the subject is commonly said to consist of, as well as the ranking of which sub-disciplines are considered more central based on previous research. However, based on the responses, it also appears that a non-negligible portion of students seem to have a rather vague preunderstanding of what the social studies subject is or can be. On a collective level, the knowledge mission, with all its dimensions as previously identified in research, predominantly shapes how students recognize the subject. What also emerges from the results is that subject teacher education students, like previous research, demonstrate that they are driven by internal motivational factors with altruistic characteristics. The study thus contributes to an understanding of where university studies in social studies needs to begin to build on students' current understanding of the subject they are about to pursue in their education and, subsequently, in their professional careers as subject teachers. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - “A Sense of the Moral Weight of the Past”: Framing Ethical and Affective Significance in Relation to Swedish Middle-School Students and Historical Empathy T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Sjölund Åhsberg, Cathrine A1 - Franck, Olof PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 62 EP - 86 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.26589 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - historical thinking KW - history education KW - historical significance KW - ethical significance KW - affective significance KW - historical empathy KW - ethical judgments KW - guilt KW - action readiness KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Building on a previous study of Swedish middle-school students’ perspectives on historical significance (Sjölund Åhsberg, 2024b), where students expressed a strong moral engagement with the past, this article further explores and defines two tentative criteria: ethical and affective significance. Using thematic analysis of focus-group interviews and relating the findings to historical empathy (Karn, 2023), the study shows that ethical significance involves making moral judgments about history that students care about and wish to change, while affective significance reflects more intuitive emotional responses. The results indicate that students are highly interested in ethically significant history and its implications for the present and future, yet experience the history classroom as largely silent on these issues. Students also express feelings of guilt and responsibility in relation to ethically challenging histories and a desire to engage with these topics in greater depth. The findings point to didactical opportunities for a more inclusive and engaging history education and highlight guilt as an underexplored dimension of historical significance. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Education in Transit - Teachers’ Experience of Digital Transition in Teaching Religion and Worldviews: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Østereng, Dag Øivind PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 119 EP - 148 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.26765 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - digital transition KW - digital literacy KW - didactics of religion KW - diversity and conflicts KW - elevkanalen KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article investigates RE teachers’ experiences using digital educational resources, focusing on how this use influences their didactical discernment and understanding of their roles. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, the study uncovers the complexities of integrating digital resources into educational practice, particularly in the context of RE. It reveals varying adaptive mindsets regarding the utilisation of these resources. The TPACK framework is employed to illustrate the complex interplay between technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge, underscoring the importance of ongoing professional development. Additionally, the Norwegian research-based knowledge summary led by Elaine Munthe and Ola Erstad highlights the challenges of conceptualising digitalisation. The findings indicate that while digital resources provide new opportunities, they also introduce challenges teachers must navigate carefully as they transform their didactical approaches and discernments. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Teaching critical thinking in psychology—focusing on evaluating different psychological perspectives T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Thorsten, Anja PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 1 EP - 27 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.27389 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - psychological literacy KW - critical thinking KW - variation theory KW - learning study KW - teaching psychological perspectives KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Critical thinking is a key ability in the humanities yet a contested issue regarding how it should be taught. In the subject of psychology, critical thinking is essential to psychological literacy i.e. the ability to evaluate empirically based psychological perspectives in explaining human phenomena, which is the focus in this study. The study was a Learning Study conducted at upper secondary school level in Sweden with 53 students at three different schools. Variation theory was used as a theoretical framework to design lessons where students processed contrasts of what critical thinking is and is not in psychology, focusing on evaluating different psychological perspectives. In the analysis of student assignments, four critical aspects were identified as essential for developing critical thinking in psychology. The results show that students improved in their ability to think critically about psychology while processing contrasts.  ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Blir det Kahoot? Svenska historielärares arbete med digital teknik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bruér, Mikael PY - 2025 VL - 2025 IS - 15 SP - 87 EP - 118 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.27665 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - history teaching KW - history teachers KW - narrative competence KW - digitalisation KW - tpack KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This study examines how Swedish history teachers integrate digital technology in their teaching. The study answers questions about which historical competencies are made visible, what digital technologies are used, and whether digital technology interacts with instructional methods. The study builds on classroom observations of six history teachers selected for their reported extensive use of digital technology. The empirical material has been analysed using the TPACK framework and history didactic theory, where historical thinking and narrative competence are central concepts. Based on classroom observations, findings show that teaching is dominated by traditional methods, such as lectures, which primarily emphasise the transmission of historical facts while giving limited attention to analytical and reflective skills. Digital technology is largely used to reinforce existing teaching practices rather than to transform history teaching. It does not appear to support the development of historical thinking competencies or narrative competence. Results suggest that digitalisation has not led to significant methodological or theoretical innovation in history teaching. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2025:3 T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Niemi, Kristian A1 - Modig, Niclas PY - 2025 VL - 3 IS - 5 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v15i2025:3.28768 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - subject-specific education AB - Editorial Presentation of the five articles in Nordidactica 2025:3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - 'Asphalt Islam'A Multimodal Comparative Analysis of Islam in Contrast to Christianity and Buddhism in Educational Films T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Ghasempour, Danial PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 29 EP - 56 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27395 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - swedish religious education KW - islam KW - multimodal KW - comparative KW - educational film KW - asphalt islam KW - rough and soft religions KW - buddhism KW - christianity KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This study employs a comparative and multimodal analysis to examine Islam’s portrayal in Swedish educational films, contrasting it with Christianity and Buddhism. Comparison is essential for understanding each religion’s representation within the same material, while the multimodal approach, focusing on visual, auditory, and textual elements, captures the nuanced portrayals of 'rough' versus 'soft' religions. Islam is depicted as 'rough,' characterised by minimal soundscapes, suburban visuals, and framed within a Sunni normative perspective. Such a comparative lens reveals discursive values and biases, encouraging self–reflection and awareness. Teachers must be mindful in selecting educational films and understand how they can be used to foster a more balanced perspective. This portrayal depicts Islam as 'asphalt Islam', emphasising its association with urban, marginalised settings and highlighting the importance of critical engagement with these educational materials. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religious Education in Transition, 1994 to 2024: A Comparative Overview of Research of Religious Education in Schools in South Africa and Sweden T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Flensner, Karin A1 - von Brömssen, Kerstin A1 - Klintborg, Caroline PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 1 EP - 28 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27421 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - south africa KW - sweden KW - research overview KW - comparative educational research KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article presents a systematic comparative review of research on Religious Education (RE) in South Africa and Sweden from 1994 to 2024. Through analysis of 77 peer-reviewed studies, it examines how historical trajectories, curricular frameworks and societal conditions shape the purposes, practices and conceptualisations of RE in each context. The findings show that both countries address common themes: pluralism, religious literacy, ethics, and existential questions - yet these take on distinct meanings in the two different national contexts.  In South Africa, RE is embedded within Life Skills and Life Orientation, reflecting post-apartheid aims of democratic transformation, social cohesion, dignity and relational ethics, including concepts such as Ubuntu. In Sweden, RE functions as a non-confessional, knowledge-based subject grounded in secular norms, analytical comparison and individual meaning-making. Using a comparative–interpretive approach, the study demonstrates how each context illuminates the other’s assumptions, highlighting the culturally situated nature of RE and the value of contrast for understanding educational responses to diversity. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mellom empati og eksotisme: Hinduisme som «den andre» i KRLE på 6. trinn T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Lunde Ilkama, Ina Marie PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 94 EP - 116 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27434 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - krle KW - perspektivtaging KW - empati KW - eksotisme KW - andregjøring KW - hinduisme KW - ekskursjon KW - religionsforståelse KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article presents a qualitative classroom study on how sixth-grade students in two religiously diverse Norwegian classrooms engage with Hinduism in the subject KRLE (Christianity, religion, worldviews and ethics) Neither the students nor the teacher had a Hindu background. Through classroom observations, interviews and observing a joint excursion to a Hindu temple, the study explores Hinduism's position as "the other" in religious education. Drawing on theories of religion, empathy, exoticism and othering, the article analyzes how students respond to unfamiliar and unexpected religious practices and ideas. The study contributes to the broader discourse on religious education by providing insights into how students engage with and understand religious diversity. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Privat, betent og uoverkommelig? om arbeid med religion i to norske barnehager T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Bratsvedal, Ine PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 117 EP - 140 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27440 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - barnehage KW - diskurs KW - privatisering KW - religion KW - religionsdidaktikk KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - Despite religion having a clear place in the Norwegian Framework Plan for Kindergartens, addressing religion in practice often appears to be challenging. This article examines how kindergarten staff understand and approach religion, and which discourses contribute to shaping this practice. The study is based on conversations conducted at the outset of an action research project in two kindergartens. The analysis identifies three categories: religion as private, religion as a sensitive topic, and limited self-efficacy when working with religion. These categories are used to discuss staff approaches to religion. The study is theoretically grounded in Foucault’s concepts of power and discourse and, through an abductive approach, develops the privatization of religion and religion as a challenge as analytical perspectives, understood as discourses in a Foucauldian sense. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ”Den Andre” och populärkultur i religionskunskapsundervisning: utmaningar och möjligheter T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - von Rost Biedron, Nicole PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 57 EP - 74 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27449 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - "den andre" KW - ”den andre” KW - “the other” KW - critical thinking KW - kritiskt tänkande KW - popular culture KW - populärkultur KW - religion KW - religionsdidaktik KW - religionskunskap KW - religious education KW - religious studies and theology KW - study of religions KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This article explores the role of popular culture in shaping representations of "the Other" within religious education, focusing on its potential to both enrich and challenge pedagogical practices. Based on interviews with sixteen upper secondary school teachers and classroom observations, the study highlights how popular culture can connect students' everyday experiences with complex theoretical concepts while addressing challenges such as reinforcing stereotypes and perpetuating Eurocentric perspectives. The findings demonstrate strategies teachers use to navigate these challenges, including contextualizing content and fostering critical media analysis. These approaches encourage students to critically engage with representations of "the Other" and promote cultural awareness. The article argues that diversifying educational materials to include non-Western perspectives fosters a more inclusive learning environment and strengthens students' critical thinking skills. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Religion som tro og som identitet. Snakker elever om det samme når de snakker om religion? T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Snoek Hauan, Lina PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 75 EP - 93 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27454 LA - nor PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - religious education KW - concepts of religion KW - religion as belief KW - religion as identity KW - secularist space KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - A core element in the curriculum for Norwegian Religious education (RE) is to take the perspective of others. Yet, perspective taking can seem a difficult task for students. This article draws on ethnographic material from a study of three Religion and Ethics classes in Norwegian upper secondary schools to explore how different concepts of religion in play in the classroom can explain misinterpretations and frustration when students discuss issues related to religion. The findings indicate that one of these concepts of religion was met with more understanding and accept than the other, and that it was easier for students who understood religion primarily as belief to make their voices heard than for students who understood religion more as identity. I discuss the findings in light of Linda Woodhead’s (2011) outline of different concepts of religion and Sara Ahmed’s (2007) concept of a normative white space, and suggest that an awareness of the different concepts of religion in play in the classroom could make it easier for students to take the perspective of others. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Navigating the methodological risks of ‘othering’ in research on inclusion and exclusion of religion and worldviews in teacher education T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Raivio, Magdalena A1 - Skaremyr, Ellinor A1 - Kuusisto, Arniika PY - 2026 VL - 2026 IS - 16 SP - 141 EP - 162 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.27579 LA - eng PB - Karlstad : CSD Karlstad KW - methodology KW - care ethics KW - othering KW - worldview KW - religion KW - socially sustainable research KW - religious studies and theology KW - subject-specific education KW - ämnesdidaktik AB - This methodological article explores how the risks of othering can be addressed in educational research on religion and worldviews. Informed by feminist, decolonial, and Indigenous research traditions, the article expands an existing care ethics framework by integrating the principles of reflexivity and respect. A Swedish preschool teacher education project is used as an illustrative example to examine how six dimensions—international, societal, community, situational, event, and act—can guide socially sustainable research design. Rather than offering a fixed model, the framework is presented as a generative tool for reflection and adaptation. The article aims to contribute to ongoing methodological discussions by offering a possible approach to ethically grounded and inclusive research in superdiverse educational contexts. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Editorial Nordidactica 2026:1: “Den andre” i religionsdidaktik T2 - Nordidactica SN - 2000-9879 A1 - Niemi, Kristian A1 - Jahnke, Fredrik PY - 2026 VL - 1 IS - 16 DO - 10.62902/nordidactica.v16i2026:1.29020 LA - swe PB - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet KW - subject didactics KW - religious didactics KW - ämnesdidaktik KW - religionsdidaktik KW - subject-specific education AB - Introduction and description of the articles in 2026:1  ER -