Recent developments in educational research raise important questions about the design of learning environments—questions that suggest the value of rethinking what is taught, how it is taught, and how is it assessed. During the past few decades, STEM disciplines began formally recognizing and integrating discipline-based education research (DBER) into their research programs to improve STEM education. One of the less literature-affluent areas of DBER addresses curriculum order and design appertaining to concept types and the order in which we teach those concepts. As educational researchers, we pose the question: does content order matter? In this project we designed, implemented and analyzed a concrete-to-abstract curriculum as a way of teaching and learning that not only builds off what students already know but how their intellect develops throughout the learning process. This semester-long curriculum design is scientifically supported and provides a learning environment aimed to not only building a student’s declarative knowledge of the subject but procedural knowledge as well and a way of developing scientific reasoning skills. This design also aimed at enhancing a student’s ability to make connections between biological concepts despite being classified as different biological concept types (e.g. descriptive, hypothetical, and theoretical concepts) as described by Lawson et al (2000). The reasoning behind and development of this project was based from Jean Piaget’s proposed stages of intellectual development, which supports the concrete-to-abstract theory. We found that, when compared to a traditional biology course (abstract-to-concrete in terms of content order), a concrete-to-abstract order of content resulted in significantly higher biological declarative knowledge and ability to make concept connections. While we failed to detect a significant difference between the two courses in terms of how quickly scientific reasoning skills are developed or how students’ scores on scientific reasoning skill assessments, the concrete-to-abstract course did show significantly higher gains in reasoning between the start and end of the semester. In addition to this project, a significant amount of time was also allocated to the design and evaluation of a health promotion and education program in Samoa. We developed a program which centered on a principal-run caregiver meeting as a means to expand health promotion and prevention efforts concerning Rheumatic Heart Disease, which is a significant cause of child morbidity and mortality in Samoa. We found that training principals on how to inform their student’s caregivers was an effective way to increase RHD awareness and disseminate correct health information including what to do if their child presents with a sore throat.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om materialet Praktisk matematik 1 passar att använda i matematikundervisningen i årskurs 1–3 utifrån arbetssättet konkret till abstrakt med fokus på kopplingen till de matematiska förmågorna och det centrala innehållet i matematik från Skolverkets (2019) läroplan. I studien undersöks vilka fem matematiska förmågor som elever ges möjlighet att öva, genom vilket centralt innehåll elever ges möjlighet att öva dessa fem matematiska förmågor samt hur materialet är utformat för arbete genom arbetssättet konkret till abstrakt.    Denna studie innehåller en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av materialet Praktisk matematik 1. För att analysera materialet skapades kriterier utifrån de matematiska förmågorna och det centrala innehållet från den svenska läroplanen (Skolverket, 2019). Materialets utformning för arbetssättet konkret till abstrakt analyserades utifrån studiens teori.   Resultatet visar att elever ges möjlighet att öva samtliga matematiska förmågor i olika utsträckning genom arbete med materialet Praktisk matematik 1. Genom områdena taluppfattning och tals användning, geometri och problemlösning ges elever möjlighet att öva samtliga fem matematiska förmågor. Genom områdena algebra och sannolikhet och statistik ges elever möjlighet att öva begrepps-, räkne- och problemlösningsförmågan och genom området samband och förändring ges elever möjlighet att öva begrepps-, räkne-, problemlösnings- och resonemangsförmågan. Dessa förmågor ges möjlighet att öva i olika utsträckning genom de olika punkterna som områdena innehåller. Materialet är utformat för att arbeta utifrån arbetssättet konkret till abstrakt genom att samtliga kort uppmanar elever till arbete med konkret material. Vid ungefär hälften av korten följs arbetet med det konkreta materialet av abstrakta beräkningar. / The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the material Praktisk matematik 1 is suitable for use in mathematics teaching in years 1–3 based on the working method concrete to abstract with a focus on the connection to the mathematical abilities and the central content in mathematics from Skolverkets (2019) curriculum. This study analyses which five mathematical abilities students are given an opportunity to practice, through which central content students are given the opportunity to practice these five mathematical abilities and in what way the material is designed for working from concrete to abstract.   This study contains a qualitative content analysis of the material Praktisk matematik 1. To analyse the material, criteria were created based of the mathematical abilities and the central content from the Swedish curriculum (Skolverket 2019). The material’s design for working from concrete to abstract was analysed from this study’s theory.   The results show that students are given the opportunity to practice all five mathematical abilities to a verifying degree through working with the material Praktisk matematik 1. Through the areas number perception and number’s use, geometry and problem-solving students are given the opportunity to practice all five mathematical abilities. Through the areas algebra and probability and statistics are students given the opportunity to practice the ability to comprehend mathematical terms, numeracy, and the ability to solve problems. Through the area connections and change student are given the opportunity to practice their ability to comprehend mathematical terms, numeracy, the ability to solve problems and reasoning ability. These abilities are given a varied opportunity to practice through the different points the areas include. The material is designed to work from concrete to abstract because every card calls on using concrete material. The usage of concrete material is in about half of the cards followed by an abstract calculation.