Research project Industrial initiatives in school – opportunities and challenges for science and technology education
The purpose of this project is to contribute to a critical discussion on the involvement of industrial actors in public science and technology education.
In Sweden, as well as world-wide, there is a large number of initiatives to improve science and technology education put forward by actors, such as government bodies, academia and industrial actors. The purpose of this project is to contribute to a critical discussion on the involvement of industrial actors in public science and technology education.
The aim is twofold: First, to shed light on how teachers use initiatives from industrial actors as part of their teaching, and how they negotiate potential tensions between public and private good. Second, to develop an understanding of how relations between science, technology, society and industry are established and negotiated by industrial actors, students and teachers when participating in industrial school science and technology projects.
The project will consist of two sub-studies. Sub-study 1 involves focus-group interviews with teachers. Sub-study 2 involves two to three case-studies of industrial STEM initiatives where the industrial actors meet young people. Grounded theory will be used for data analyses. This project will contribute to making explicit teachers’ didactical considerations in negotiating integration of industrial initiatives in science and technology education and focuses on how tensions of interest may be recognized and handled by teachers, students and industrial actors.
Project description
The project consists of two sub-studies. In the first sub-study, we focus on how teachers use and negotiate potential tensions between public and private good in resources for science and technology education provided by industrial actors (research question 1 and 2). In the second sub-study, we focus on the interactions between industrial actors, students and teachers in industrial initiatives for science and technology education (research question 3).
Sub-study 1: Focus group interviews with science and technology teachers
Data collection: This sub-study involves focus-group interviews with science and technology teachers in compulsory school. Focus-group interviews are commonly used in exploratory research to explore different points of view (Krueger & Casey, 2015). In a focus group discussion, a comment may encourage new thoughts and ideas; it is the research participants who primarily guide the flow and direction of the conversation (Williams & Katz, 2001). The researchers act as moderators and the starting-point of the discussion is some resource that is intended to mediate the discussion toward the intended focus. A series of focus-groups will be conducted, gathering science and technology teachers in lower secondary school with experiences of engaging with different types of industrial resources (cf. Andrée & Hansson, manuscript). The teachers will be asked to bring samples of industrial resources (including teaching materials to be used in the classroom as well as information about fieldtrips, exhibitions etc. arranged by industrial actors) that they have used in their teaching. In addition, the researchers/moderators will bring examples of industrial resources of different types (Andrée & Hansson, 2015, manuscript) targeting science and technology education in lower secondary school. The discussions in the focus groups will be organized around the resources brought to the focus group by the teachers and researchers. The moderators will guide the discussions toward identifying affordances and constraints in using industrial resources and how the teachers seek to resolve any potential tensions between public and private good (e.g. curricular goals, marketing). The focus-groups will be put together based on a short questionnaire with the purpose of ensuring a variation in the focus groups regarding experiences of teaching science and technology (years of teaching, age, gender, socio-economic context of school, urban/rural context) as well as a variation in experiences of engaging with industrial resources (e.g. frequent visitor to industrial exhibitions at science center). The focus-groups will be audio and video recorded to allow for detailed transcription.
Data analyses: The focus-group interviews will be analyzed drawing on the framework of grounded theory (cf. Glaser & Strauss, 1967). As a consequence, the data analyses will be conducted continually and along the process of data collection. The number of focus groups conducted will depend on when theoretical saturation is achieved in the analyses. Categories of how teachers use and negotiate potential tensions between public and private good in resources will be developed by means of constant comparison, and then integrated and reorganized until the categories become stable and agreement is achieved between the researchers on the properties of the categories.
Sub-study 2: Case-studies of industrial STEM-initiatives
Data collection: This sub-study builds on case-study methodology (cf. Yin, 2014). In this sub- study, two to three cases of industrial STEM initiatives, where the industrial actors meet young people, will be selected for documentation and analyses. The cases selected will be representing different types of industrial initiatives (cf. Andrée & Hansson, 2015). The activities may include teaching resources produced by industrial actors, field or theme days arranged by industrial actors, visits to schools by industrial representatives as well as school visits at exhibitions. However, all activities/resources will be aimed at students and used as part of the ordinary science teaching. In the selection of cases, possibilities for negotiating access will have to be taken into account. The case-study methodology for data collection will include participant observation with audio/video recording during select activities where industrial actors and young people meet and preparation and follow-up on these activities in a classroom setting. In addition, we will conduct interviews with participants in the activities, both persons representing industrial actors, the involved teachers and young people participating in an activity as a student, and collect artifacts (e.g. webpages, information materials, written documents which is part of the activity).
Data-analysis: In the analyses of the case studies, we will focus on how relations between science, society and industry are created and negotiated by students, teachers and industrial actors when participating in industrial driven science school projects. Through this we seek an understanding of what relationships between the participating students and science, as well as between students and the industry that are made available. The case studies will be analyzed by means of a constant comparative approach (cf. Glaser & Strauss, 1967). As in the first sub- study, the data analyses will be conducted continually and along the process of data collection. The specific focus is on how possible tensions between public and private good are negotiated by the different participants. What becomes of particular interest in the analysis is what the participants take for granted and draw on to smooth over aspects of talk that are more contentious and uncertain (cf. Hsu et al., 2009).
Project members
Project managers
Lena Hansson
Docent
Members
Maria Andrée
Professor
