This study provides insights into the use of metaphors in protein synthesis descriptions in upper secondary chemistry and biology textbooks. Data were collected from seven Swedish textbooks and analyzed with the Metaphor Identification Protocol and categorized within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The results reveal two main parallel…

This study investigated meaning-making of arrows in a representation of the greenhouse effect among 14-year-old secondary school students. Data was generated during Biology lessons where 74 students discussed how they interpreted a representation from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which is an NGO that produce school material. The…

Sexuality education (SE) takes place in fields of tension where biology, legislation, norms, and values intersect. Drawing on Ahmed's phenomenological account of whiteness, this article examines how Swedish whiteness is constructed and reproduced within SE. In Sweden, SE is formalised as an overarching, subject-integrated knowledge area where the…

This study aims to determine what pre-service teachers know about the path of water through the body, and how they intend to explain this knowledge to five-year-old preschool children. This study aims to see the opportunities young children in preschool can obtain from an explanation of the nature of science related to an everyday life activity. A…

Argumentation is a key skill in most school subjects and academic disciplines, including mathematics and science. It is possible that similarities and differences between how argumentation is expressed in different subjects can contribute to, or disrupt, students' transferrable argumentation skills. The purpose of this study is therefore to…

This qualitative study focuses on preschool practitioners' teaching about death. The theoretical framework draws on ideas about dialogic teaching and the concepts that are of importance for understanding what biological death entails. The study was conducted within a qualitative, participant centered paradigm. The data consist of video recordings…

Sustaining a broad diversity of plants is key for a sustainable future. For instance, providing a variety of flowering plants in urban and agricultural landscapes mitigates the current decline of pollinators and biodiversity in general. Therefore, educating about the diversity of flowering plants has high current relevance for biology and…

Swedish preschool science practice is confined to a unique educational setting where upbringing, care, and education are intertwined. This allows teachers to develop innovative cross-curricular and multidimensional science teaching. At the same time, society demands the digitalization of preschool practice, which has caused concern not only about…

This study investigates the progression of students' meaning-making of epigenetic phenomena while discussing multiple visual representations depicted at different levels of biological organization. Semi-structured focus group sessions involving ninth-grade students (aged 15-16) from a Swedish lower secondary school were video recorded. Students'…

The COVID-19 pandemic had an immense impact on communities around the world. We know that new epidemic-prone diseases will emerge in the future. Consequently, it is important to investigate what impact the current pandemic had on school children's understanding of infectious diseases in order to develop biology education based on that novel…

Studying biology entails negotiating knowledges, identities, and what paths, more or less well-trodden, to follow. Knowledges, identities, and paths within the very practices of science are fundamentally gendered and it is, therefore, critical to recognize when exploring students' learning and participation in natural sciences. Even though…

Higher education biology (HEB), a discipline where women undergraduates are numerically overrepresented in most Western universities, has been given little attention in exploring norms of scientific practice from a student perspective. This study brings into focus how biology students negotiate identities in relation to figured worlds of HEB.…

Sexuality constitutes an important aspect of sustainable development as the concept is used by the United Nations. Education is commonly viewed as crucial to achieving sustainability, and promoting action competence is a key element in such educational efforts. This suggests that education should support individuals in actively seeking information…

Learning about evolution can be challenging for students, as a full understanding may require them to see the world in new ways, to master a disciplinary language and to understand complex processes. Drawing on a long line of theoretically grounded arguments of philosophers and researchers for including wonder in science teaching, we report on the…

Collaboration has the potential to strengthen both professional learning and well-being for teachers. However, it can also bring problematic aspects, such as increased workload and conflicts. The purpose of this study was to explore biology teachers' experiences of collaboration to better understand how upper secondary school organisations can…