Alignment between teachers' practices and political intentions in the context of a reformed modelling-oriented science curriculum in Danish lower secondary school

Sanne Schnell Nielsen, Jan Alexis Nielsen

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Abstract

A new national science curriculum for lower secondary education was initiated in Denmark in 2015-2016. The intentions behind the new curriculum include substantial changes to how teachers should address models and modelling (MoMo) in their practice. This study focuses both on those intentions and on teachers' practices, rationales, and experiences in this regard. Data were generated by means of semi-structured interviews and lesson planning workshops among three pairs of teachers. Our findings suggest that: (1) teachers' practices and rationales for integrating MoMo into their teaching reflected an approach by which MoMo were treated largely as the product of a scientific process rather than part of a scientific process; (2); the dynamic process of designing, evaluating and revising models based on students' own inquiry only played a minor role; and (3) teachers had multiple experiences in their efforts to enact the curriculum intentions. Finally, based on the findings, we discuss how to enhance the alignment between curriculum intentions and teachers' practice.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNordic Studies in Science Education
Volume18
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)369-383
Number of pages15
ISSN1894-1257
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

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