Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka elevers uppfattningar av när en NO-laboration är engagerande. Mot bakgrund av att forskning visat hur elevers intresse för de naturorienterande ämnena sjunker, samtidigt som de beskriver laborationer som det mest inspirerande med NO, har avsikten varit att ta reda på vad eleverna själva önskar mer av. Efter att ha låtit eleverna teckna sina uppfattningar har en fenomenografisk analys genomförts med förhoppningen att belysa tendenser i den insamlade datan. Resultatet visar att uppfattningar om laborationer skiljer sig åt, både mellan elevgrupper och årskurser. Vissa tydliga trender har emellertid identifierats, från att blanda ämnen för att uppleva en reaktion, till att laborationens utfall är okänd. Slutligen diskuteras resultatet och anknyts till aktuell forskning och samhället i stort. / The purpose of this study has been to investigate pupils’ perceptions of when laboratory work in science studies is exciting. Since studies have shown how pupils’ interest in the scientific subjects decline, this study has aimed to explore what the pupils themselves wish more of. After having the pupils draw their perceptions, a phenomenographic analysis has been carried out in the hopes of shedding light on tendencies in the collected data. The result shows that perceptions on the matter vary, both between different groups of pupils, as well as between the years in school. However, some clear trends have been identified, from mixing substances to experience a reaction, to the laboratory outcome remaining unknown until the end of class. Finally, the results are discussed and related to current research, as well as to society at large.

Kunskaper inom naturvetenskap har stor betydelse för ekonomi, människors liv och hälsa samt inte minst vår miljö. För att erhålla både breda, allmänbildande kunskaper och mer specialiserade, djupa kunskaper behöver barn och ungdomar läsa naturorienterande ämnen redan i grundskolan. För att få elever att intressera sig för naturvetenskap behöver undervisning utformas på ett sätt som väcker elevernas intresse och nyfikenhet. Detta kan bland annat uppnås genom att varva laborationer med teori.Det här examensarbetet är en studie av hur kemilärare ser på laborationer och hur deras syn kan relateras till den nuvarande kursplanen i kemi. Resultatet visar att lärarna värdesätter laborationer, men även hur laborationer inte uppnår erforderlig kvalitet när lärarna saknar förutsättningar, som de uttrycker det, för att genomföra bra laborationer. Vidare framkommer det att lärarna uppfattar det som att kursplanen inte, på samma sätt som tidigare, tar fasta på laborationers betydelse för att uppnå undervisningsmålen.Studien underbyggs av kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta högstadielärare på två skolor i Stockholms län. / Natural science is of great importance to economics, people's lives and health as well as our environment. In order to obtain both broad, general knowledge and specialized, deep knowledge, students need to study science already in primary school. In order to make students more interested in science, teaching needs to be designed in a way that arouses students' curiosity. This can be achieved, for example, by finding a good mix between practical laboratory work and theoretical sessions.This is a study of how chemistry teachers view laboratory teaching and how their view can be related to the current syllabus in chemistry. The result shows that teachers value laboratory work, but also how laboratory work does not achieve the necessary quality when teachers lack the conditions, as they perceive it, to carry out good laboratory work. In addition, it shows that teachers think that the syllabus does not attach the same level of importance as before to laboratory exercises to achieve the teaching objectives.The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight science teachers at high school level in Stockholm County.

<p>The main purpose of the research this thesis is based upon was to study students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry at university level and their motivation from three perspectives. How can students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry be assessed? How can these attitudes be changed? How are learning situations experienced by students with different attitude positions?</p><p>An attitude questionnaire, assessing views of knowledge, learning assessments, laboratory activities, and perceived roles of instructors and student, was used to estimate students’ attitude positions. It was shown that a positive attitude was related to motivated student behaviour. Furthermore, it was shown that factors in the educational context, such as the teachers’ empathy for students learning chemistry, had affected the students. It was also found that students holding different attitude positions showed different learning outcomes and differed in their perceptions of the learning situation. Students’ holding a more relativistic attitude more readily accepted the challenges of open experiments and other more demanding tasks than those holding a dualistic attitude.</p><p>In addition, the teachers were found to play important roles in the way the tasks were perceived and the development of students’ ideas. In studied laboratory activities open tasks resulted in positive student engagement and learning outcomes. Preparative exercises, such as a computer simulation of the phenomena to be investigated, affected students’ focus during laboratory work, encouraging them to incorporate more theoretical considerations and increasing their ability to use chemical knowledge. Finally, it was shown that students’ focus during laboratory work is reflected in the questions they ask the teacher, implying that questions could be used as tools to evaluate laboratory teaching and learning processes.</p><p>The findings imply that students’ attitudes towards learning and motivation, and the design of learning situations, are key factors in the attainment of desirable higher educational goals such as the ability to judge, use, and develop knowledge. For universities encountering students with increasingly diverse attitudes, motivation and prior knowledge, these are important considerations if they are to fulfil their commissions to provide high quality learning environments and promote high quality learning.</p>

The main purpose of the research this thesis is based upon was to study students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry at university level and their motivation from three perspectives. How can students’ attitudes towards learning chemistry be assessed? How can these attitudes be changed? How are learning situations experienced by students with different attitude positions? An attitude questionnaire, assessing views of knowledge, learning assessments, laboratory activities, and perceived roles of instructors and student, was used to estimate students’ attitude positions. It was shown that a positive attitude was related to motivated student behaviour. Furthermore, it was shown that factors in the educational context, such as the teachers’ empathy for students learning chemistry, had affected the students. It was also found that students holding different attitude positions showed different learning outcomes and differed in their perceptions of the learning situation. Students’ holding a more relativistic attitude more readily accepted the challenges of open experiments and other more demanding tasks than those holding a dualistic attitude. In addition, the teachers were found to play important roles in the way the tasks were perceived and the development of students’ ideas. In studied laboratory activities open tasks resulted in positive student engagement and learning outcomes. Preparative exercises, such as a computer simulation of the phenomena to be investigated, affected students’ focus during laboratory work, encouraging them to incorporate more theoretical considerations and increasing their ability to use chemical knowledge. Finally, it was shown that students’ focus during laboratory work is reflected in the questions they ask the teacher, implying that questions could be used as tools to evaluate laboratory teaching and learning processes. The findings imply that students’ attitudes towards learning and motivation, and the design of learning situations, are key factors in the attainment of desirable higher educational goals such as the ability to judge, use, and develop knowledge. For universities encountering students with increasingly diverse attitudes, motivation and prior knowledge, these are important considerations if they are to fulfil their commissions to provide high quality learning environments and promote high quality learning.

The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the role of practical work in physics education in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Lao PDR is one of least developed countries in the world with a weak base for science, and poor market opportunities for science graduates. The rapidly expanding educational system has many problems concerning quality of the infrastructure and staff competence. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used in the study in order to assure reliability of the results. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, video-recordings, and my own ethnographic experiences of working in the Lao educational system for more than thirty years. The study was informed and results analysed with help of curriculum perspective and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The findings show that Lao physics education curriculum at all levels is dominated by very traditional forms of teaching with an almost total absence of practical. Official curricular documents have statements prescribing teachers to do practical work in high school and university courses. However, few institutions have functioning equipment and skilled teachers for organising practical activities. Therefore, the majority of Lao students come to university and even can finish university without experience of practical work in physics. This shows the gap that exists between intended and implemented curricula. The majority of the students understand the importance of having practical activities in physics. However, after being exposed to laboratory experiments in an introductory physics course, they expressed criticism about the quality of instruction and the process of the practical work organisation. The laboratory group work analysis showed that discussions were mainly focused on understanding the experimental procedures, manipulating equipment, and collecting data for the report rather than on the physics content (object of activity, in CHAT terms). Based on the research results, it is possible to suggest that a systemic approach is needed to stimulate the development of a new practical work culture in schools and universities. This approach should include training and incentives for science teachers, development of assessment strategies including practical work, maintenance structures for physics equipment, and technical support for the organisation of demonstrations and laboratory exercises.

In the form of teacher didactical design research, this work addresses a didactical issue encountered during physics teaching in a Swedish upper secondary school. A need for renewed practical laboratory work related to Newtonian mechanics is met by proposing and designing an activity based on high- speed photography using the nowadays omnipresent smartphone, thus bringing new technology into the classroom. The activity – video analysis of the collision physics of football kicks – is designed and evaluated by following a didactical design cycle. The work elaborates on how the proposed laboratory activity relates to the potential and complications of experimental activities in science education, as described in the vast literature on the topic. It is argued that the use of smartphones constitutes an interesting use of new technology for addressing known problems of practical work. Of particular interest is that smartphones offer a way to bridge the gap between the everyday life of students and the world of physics experiments (smartphones are powerful pocket laboratories). The use of smartphones also avoids using unfamiliar laboratory equipment that is known to hinder focus on intended content, while at the same time exploring a powerful tool for data acquisition and analysis. Overall, the use of smartphones (and computers) in this manner can be seen as the result of applying Occam’s razor to didactics: only familiar and readily available instrumentation is used, and skills learned (movie handling and image analysis) are all educationally worthwhile. Although the activity was judged successful, a systematic investigation of learning outcome was out of scope. This means that no strong conclusions can be drawn based on this limited work. Nonetheless, the smartphone activity was well received by the students and should constitute a useful addition to the set of instructional approaches, especially since variation is known to benefit learning. The main failure of the design was an overestimation of student prior knowledge on motion physics (and its application to image data). As a consequence, the activity took required more time and effort than originally anticipated. No severe pitfalls of smartphone usage were identified, but it should be noted that the proposed activity – with its lack of well-defined results due to variations in kick strength – requires that the teacher is capable of efficiently analysing multiple student films (avoiding the feedback process to become overwhelmingly time consuming). If not all student films are evaluated, the feedback to the students may become of low quality, and misconceptions may pass under the radar. On the other hand, given that programming from 2018 will become compulsory, an interesting development of the activity would be to include handling of images and videos using a high-level programming language like Python.

Abstract This research explores the development of Finnish Medical Laboratory Technologists based on education given in Turku covering the years 1955–1990. The data is limited into three time periods: education lasting for one year 1955–1963, education lasting for two years 1964–1983 and education 1984–1990 based on the secondary school reform. The development of the Finnish medical laboratory technologist education was connected with development of medical and natural sciences and technology. The representatives of the medicine were of vital importance in influencing the beginning of this education. The swift from industrial to service society speeded the development. The duration of education was extended gradually from one year to four and half year education. Even in the beginning of this education the students selected into training should have at least the basic general secondary school education which was not the case with other health care staff . Especially in the beginning the students should have good health in working with health hazard environment and substances. A distinctive change took place in the relationship of cognitive and practical teaching. In the beginning the greatest part of the educational training was practical given in health laboratories and hospital wards. Gradually the cognitive teaching was transferred into the school classrooms. Also the practical training in the hospital decreased. In the beginning of the educational training took place in the different faculties and institutes of Turku University given by medical staff. Later the teaching was moved to the nursing and health care colleges and the authority to teach was given to the permanent health care staff. The decrease of the infectious diseases and the development of internal medicine and surgery reflected in the changes of the selection of laboratory investigations from the bacteriological research to the chemical research. The manual research methods developed to automatic research methods was seen with a delay in the medical technologist education. Also the quality control appeared surprisingly late in the educational training. The education and training of the laboratory technologists were attached to the education of nursing instead of technical sector of health education. The intensive increase of the social and behaviorial sciences was part of wider international development. This research adds knowledge to the planning of laboratory technologist education. The analysis of the earlier actions helps to reveal the far reaching influences of the different choices made before and to explain why the situation is what it is. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin Suomessa toteutuneen laboratoriohoitajakoulutuksen kehittymistä Turussa tapahtuneen koulutuksen avulla. Tutkimus rajautui vuosille 1955–1990 ja jakautui ajallisesti kolmeen jaksoon: yksivuotiseen koulutukseen vuosina 1955–1963, kaksivuotiseen koulutukseen vuosina 1964–1983 ja keskiasteen koulunuudistukseen vuosina 1984–1990. Tutkimuksen tarkastelun kohteena oli: Mitkä tekijät johtivat laboratoriohoitaja-koulutuksen käynnistymiseen ja kehittymiseen? Miten opiskelijat valittiin? Miten tietopuolinen ja käytännöllinen opetus jakaantui? Minkälainen oli opettajien pätevyys? Minkälainen oli oppisisältö? Minkälaista tutkintonimikettä käytettiin? Laboratoriohoitajakoulutuksen kehittyminen oli yhteydessä lääketieteen, luonnontieteen ja teknologian kehittymiseen. Lääketieteen edustajat olivat keskeisiä vaikuttajia laboratoriohoitajakoulutuksen alkamiselle ja kehittymiselle. Teolliseen ja palveluyhteiskuntaan siirtyminen vauhdittivat kehitystä. Koulutus piteni asteittain yksivuotisesta neljä ja puolivuotiseksi. Koulutukseen valituilta opiskelijoilta vaadittiin jo alkuaikoina muista hoitohenkilöistä poik-keavasti vähintään keskikoulun oppimäärä. Suuri osa oli kuitenkin ylioppilaita. Koulutuksen alkuaikoina vaadittiin opiskelijoilta hyvää terveyttä tartuntavaarallisen ympäristön ja terveydelle haitallisten aineiden kanssa työskenneltäessä. Koulutuksen alkuaikoina suurin osa oli käytännöllistä opetusta terveydenhuoltoalan laboratorioissa ja vuodeosastoilla. Ajan kuluessa suhde muuttui selvästi koululla annattavan tietopuolisen opetuksen eduksi. Myös vuodeosastoharjoittelu väheni. Koulutuksen alkuaikoina tietopuolinen opetus tapahtui Turun yliopiston eri laitoksilla pääasiassa lääketieteilijöiden voimin. Myöhemmin koulutus siirtyi sairaanhoito- ja terveydenhuolto-oppilaitoksiin ja samalla vetovastuu siirtyi vakinaisille sairaanhoidon opettajille. Tartuntatautien väheneminen ja sisätautien ja kirurgian kehittyminen heijastuivat laboratorio-tutkimusvalikoiman muuttumiseen bakteriologian tutkimuksista kemiallisiin tutkimuksiin. Ihmisen elimistön tutkiminen kudos- ja elintasolta syveni solutasolle. Manuaalisten tutkimusmenetelmien kehittyminen automaatio-menetelmiksi näkyi viiveellä laboratoriohoitajien koulutuksessa. Samoin laboratorioissa voimakkaasti kehittyvä laaduntarkkailu tuli koulutukseen yllättävän myöhään. Laboratoriohoitajakoulutus määriteltiin hoitoalan koulutuksiin terveydenhuollon teknisen alan sijaan. Tämä määritteli hoidollisuutta korostavat raamit laboratoriohoitajakoulutukselle. Yhteiskunta- ja käyttäytymistieteiden voimakas lisääntyminen oli osa laajempaa kansainvälistä kehitystä. Opiskelijoita tuli kasvattaa myös ammatillisissa koulutuksissa yhteiskuntatietoisiksi, osallistuviksi ja sivistyneiksi kansalaisiksi ja perheenjäseniksi. Muiden maiden laboratoriohoitajakoulutukseen ne eivät kuitenkaan sisältyneet. Tämä tutkimus antaa lisää tietoa laboratoriohoitajakoulutuksen suunnitteluun. Aikaisemman toiminnan analysoiminen auttaa näkemään, minkälaiset, kauaskantoisetkin, vaikutukset erilaisilla valinnoilla on ollut, miksi ollaan siinä tilanteessa missä ollaan.

This report presents a thesis done at the programme Master of Science in Engineering and Education at KTH and SU. This project aims to create a laboratory work trying to inspire students for the technical subjects (mathematics, physics, technology and computer science) and is conducted at the department IfU at RWTH University in Aachen, Germany. It is a part of the project RoboScope, developed in Germany to inspire young people to study more engineering. This laboratory work uses Lego Mindstorms and the students should work with robotics. The laboratory work is based on a theme; the students will build a robot that can complete a specific task, a rescue task in a nuclear power plant. The new parts in the laboratory work “Rescue Work” involve more interactivity, higher degree of freedom, older students and the programming is made in Java. The laboratory work uses the model of Brall. Evaluation of the laboratory work has been done together with colleagues at IfU and a group of school students. / Denna rapport redovisar ett examensarbete gjort på programmet Civilingenjör och Lärare på KTH och SU. Examensarbetets syfte är att skapa en laboration för att försöka inspirera studenter till de tekniska ämnena (matematik, fysik, teknik och datavetenskap) och är genomfört vid institutionen IfU på universitetet RWTH i Aachen, Tyskland. Den är en del av ett projekt RoboScope, drivet i Tyskland för att inspirera fler elever till att studera till ingenjörer. Denna laboration använder sig av Lego Mindstorms och studenterna arbetar med robotik. Laborationen utgår från ett tema och studenterna ska bygga en robot som kan genomföra den specifika uppgiften de blir tilldelade. Uppgiften är en räddningsaktion i ett kärnkraftverk. De nya delarna i denna laboration involverar mer interaktivitet, högre frihetsgrader, äldre elever och programmeringen genomförs i Java. Laboration använder sig av modellen av Brall. En utvärdering är gjord tillsammans med kollegor på IfU och en grupp av studenter.

The aim of the current study is to study characteristics of high-risk cancer cells within the childhood disease neuroblastoma (NB) by mapping regrowth after treatment with the chemotherapy doxorubicin (doxo). The cell-line SK-N-BE(2)-C (BE(2)-C) was used as a model. Results from a previous study by Hultman et al., (2018) have indicated that while a majority of BE(2)-C cells could be shown resilient to a 1 μM dose of doxorubicin (doxo), only a very small fractions had the capacity for immediate replication following a single or double treatment of doxo (“remaining replicating cells”; RRC). The current study aims to investigate if RRC are responsible for regrowth. Cultured BE(2)-C cells were exposed to doxo and labelled with the nucleoside analogues EdU (5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine) and BrdU (5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine). The results from the current study indicated that the RRC subpopulation might not be responsible for regrowth since the nucleoside labelling was not shown to be present in the cells of the regrowing colonies. However, technical challenges, e.g. the settings of thresholds for EdU and BrdU detection, in combination with the dilution of DNA markers in replication, call for further studies using additional methods, e.g. isotope markers, in order to firmly conclude that other subpopulation(s) than the RRC population are responsible for regrowth. Apart from studying cell populations responsible for regrowth, a pilot study was performed including another combination of treatment using an ATM-inhibitor (KU-60019) together with the chemotherapy doxo. There were some measurement points missing, but the current results indicate that regrowth is postponed when the ATM-inhibitor is added in combination with single or double treatment of doxo. The research procedures and processes involved in this thesis, are similar to those included in the syllabi for the natural science subjects for the upper secondary school. This underlines the importance of studying inquiry and laboratory work. A literature review was performed, analysing current research on open-and closed ended laboratory work. Ten research articles were collected and characterized by natural science subject, type of laboratory style (open or closed) and student learning competences. Findings from the current study indicate that open-ended laboratory work promotes student interest in the subject. The learning competences problem-solving ability and procedure ability are most commonly studied in laboratory work based on the results from the current study. / Syftet med studien är att studera hög-risk cancerceller inom barncancersjukdomen neuroblastom (NB), genom att kartlägga återväxt efter kemoterapi-behandling med doxorubicin (doxo). En multiresistent neuroblastom cell-linje med hög-risk egenskaper, SK-N-BE(2)-C( BE[2]-C), användes som modell. Enligt en tidigare studie på BE(2)-C celler, utförd av Hultman et al., (2018), kan efter en enkel eller dubbelbehandling med doxo majoriteten av cellerna överleva, men endast en mycket liten andel kan också omedelbart fortsätta dela sig. Dessa celler benämndes som ”kvarvarande replikerande celler” (RRC). I denna studie undersöktes hypotesen att RRC är ansvariga för återväxt efter doxo-terapi, hypotetiskt återspeglande situationen vid återfall hos patienten. BE(2)-C celler odlades in vitro i petriskålar, behandlades med doxo, och analyserades sedan i mikroskop genom att använda två kemiska markörer för cell-delning; EdU (5-etynyl-2’-deoxyuridin) och BrdU (5-bromo-2-deoxyuridin). Intressant nog, men något oväntat, indikerar resultaten att RRC troligen inte är ansvariga för återväxt. Detta skulle då tyda på att återväxten orsakas av andra cellpopulationer, utan förmåga att omedelbart efter kemoterapin fortsätta dela sig. Dock förekom tekniska utmaningar med valda metoder, t.ex. gränsvärdena för EdU- och BrdU-detektering, i kombination med utspädningen av DNA-markörer vid replikation. Därför krävs ytterligare studier med användning av andra metoder, t.ex. isotopmarkörer, för att fastställa vilka subpopulationer som är ansvariga för återväxt. Utöver att studera cellpopulationer ansvariga för återväxt så genomfördes även en pilotstudie med en kombination av doxo och annan typ av kemoterapi riktad mot cellens förmåga att reparera DNA skador; en ATM-inhibitor (KU-60019). Pilotstudien indikerar att återväxten av BE(2)-C förskjuts vid närvaro av KU-60019, både i kombination med enkel eller dubbelbehandling av kemoterapin doxo. Det naturvetenskapliga arbetssättet i denna studie, vilket inkluderas i ämnesplanerna för de naturvetenskapliga ämnena för gymnasieskolan, understryker betydelsen av att studera laborativt arbete. En litteraturstudie genomfördes med fokus på öppna och slutna laborationer. Tio forskningsartiklar analyserades och karaktäriserades; typ av laborationsstil (öppen eller sluten) och elevers lärandekompetenser. Resultatet från denna studie indikerar att öppna laborationer bidrar till att öka elevers intresse. Vidare visar resultatet att laborativt arbete i skolan inkluderar utvecklingen av främst problemlösningsförmågan och procedurförmågan. Forskningsprocedurer och processer involverade i detta examensarbete diskuteras.

Till den här undersökningen har en kromatografilaboration konstruerats. Högstadieelevers attityd gentemot kemi före och efter genomförandet av kromatografilaborationen jämförs. Genomförandet skedde vid Vetenskapens Hus i Stockholm. Även medföljande lärares upplevelse av laborationen och eventuell påverkan på elever undersöks. Frågeformulär används för undersökande av elevernas attityder gentemot kemi och intervjuer med medföljande lärare används som komplement till elevernas svar. För en grupp av de deltagande eleverna syns en förändring i attityd gentemot kemi i positiv riktning, vilket stämmer överens med elevgruppens lärares upplevelse. För den andra gruppen deltagande elever syns ingen förändring i attityd gentemot kemi, vilket stämmer överens med elevgruppens lärares upplevelse. Laborationen anses lämplig av de medföljande lärarna, oavsett om den har en affektiv påverkan på eleverna eller inte. Utifrån elevernas svar på frågeformulären och lärarintervjuerna går det att fastställa laborationens möjlighet att påverka elever affektivt, men även att denna påverkan inte är självklar. / In this report, a chromatography lab is constructed and the attitudes towards chemistry of students in lower secondary school are compared before and after the lab is carried out at Vetenskapens Hus in Stockholm. The attendant teachers’ experiences of the lab and potential effects on the students are also taken into consideration. Questionnaires are used to survey the students’ attitudes towards chemistry, and interviews with the attendant teachers are used as a complement to the students’ answers. For one group of students, a significant positive change in their attitudes towards chemistry is measured, which is consistent with their teacher’s experience. For the other group of students, there is no significant change in their attitudes towards chemistry, which is consistent with their teacher’s experience as well. The lab itself is seen as appropriate by the attendant teachers, regardless of whether it influences the students affectively or not. Based on the answers of the students and the interviews with the teachers, it is possible to conclude that the lab has the potential to influence the students affectively, but also that this influence isn’t a necessary effect of the lab.