Teaching and learning of quantum physics at secondary level is an active field of research. One important challenge is finding ways to promote understanding of quantum concepts without the mathematical formalism that is embedded in quantum mechanics but unavailable on the secondary level. We investigated Norwegian secondary students' (N = 291)…

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been a key element in science education for the past decade and should therefore be a key element of pre-service teacher (PST) education as well. This study aims to explore how IBSE is implemented in teacher education for primary and lower secondary levels (years 1-10) to prepare PSTs for their…

If students are to acquire deep learning in science, they need to know about the nature of science (NOS), particularly not only the cognitive-epistemic but also the social-institutional aspects of NOS. In this paper, we investigate the content of the Norwegian science curriculum in order to establish how NOS is represented, in particular to the…

Using cluster-analysis in a sample of 65 Norwegian 10th graders, we identified subgroups characterized by relatively high levels of knowledge combined with relatively low beliefs in personal justification of knowledge claims, as well as subgroups characterized by the opposite pattern of knowledge and personal justification. Moreover, the high…

In this article, I develop a perspective on learning as multilayered phenomena. I take a socio-genetic approach in order to understand human activity and to show how categories are a fundamental part of learning in a specific type of institutional practice. In the empirical section, student dialogue is analysed in relation to a set of categories…

In the late 1990s failure rates in a first-year introductory calculus course at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology reached peak levels. This paper reports on findings from an action research project that was set up in 2002/2003 to improve the situation. The study confirms that students approach their tasks differently which…