This course is organized as a workshop where participants will discuss their current PhD projects paying particular attention to research design in interdisciplinary fields that combine science, technology and mathematics, with the social and human sciences. The seminar will address the relationships between:
1.Aims, intentions and research problem
2.Theory
3.Methodology
The seminar will help students in their first year of studies to think about and refine their research process at the beginning stages.
The advance of sociological and anthropological theories to the study of science, technology and mathematics —the STEM fields— provide interesting insights on the nature of these areas of human activity. Such theories are also connected with epistemological views that have an impact on the view of thinking and learning processes in these subject areas. The seminar will address two fundamental questions:
1.How have core ideas in STEM emerged in particular conditions of possibility within a given historical moment?
2.How is individual thinking embedded in social and cultural conditions of possibility in a practice?
The intention of these questions is to point at two different, though interconnected levels. During the morning, the guest lecturers will present their ideas on the first question based on their research of science and mathematics in society. In the afternoon the attention will turn to education and learning processes in mathematics and science.
This course/seminar is directed to doctoral students who are working with discourse analysis and narrative research in educational areas, and for students who would like to know the possibilities that discourse analysis and narrative research can offer to their projects in different educational areas. Emphasis will be given to methodological and analytical strategies for the generation of research material as well as of analysis of it.
The course is aimed at students in the last stages of their studies who want to know the criteria by which their theses will be judged and how these criteria adapt to suit the diversity in thesis presentation. Question for discussion are:
1.What are the criteria used for judging the thesis? 2.Does the diversity in presentation of theses affect what criteria are used? 3.How can knowing the criteria contribute to the completion of a thesis?
The course addresses how science and mathematics education are important mechanisms for the creation of particular subjects with particular subjectivities. Educational processes in mathematics and science are not only teaching students the notions of science and mathematics, they are shaping the sense of who they are as they participate in school mathematical and scientific teaching and learning. The notion of discourse and discursive practices have been used to signal the complexity of practice forming systems of reason that regulate what is to be taken as appropriate ways of engaging in science and mathematics.
As the study of many scientific, technological and educational processes touches upon human beings and society, qualitative research methods are important tools for approaching the understanding and interpretation of these phenomena. The palette of qualitative methodologies is broad and its uses are varied in diverse fields of research.
The course is specially designed for students in the first year of their studies and it aims at:
Offering an overview of the main assumptions and issues at stake when carrying qualitative research.
Providing a frame for discussing the students’ own methodological design.
Providing feedback on students’ problems and necessities regarding their methodological design
This course is specially designed for students in the middle of their PhD project, who are working with the analysis and interpretation of their empirical material. The course will combine lectures on the process of bringing theory and empirical data together in an analysis and interpretation. There will also be workshop sessions where students will have the opportunity of advancing in their strategy for analysis.
The course will be based on the reading of some material previous to the course, as well as on the submission and response of working documents or papers prepared by the students for their participation in the course. The papers students would like to have discussed during the paper will have to be submitted to the contact person (ala@learning.aau.dk) after the formal registration to the course.
That human thinking and learning are primarily cognitive, de-contextualized processes has been a contention challenged by research adopting social, cultural and political perspectives in understanding people’s action. Such perspectives have represented an alternative way of interpreting the strong relationship between thinking, activity and their social/cultural/political contexts. Socio-cultural and political research in education have had a significant impact in not only analyzing existing educational practices but also proposing alternative imaginaries for new directions in education, particularly in fields such as the teaching and learning of the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering and the technical disciplines.
By bringing a selected group of internationally recognized experts in the area, this course intends to: • Introducing key theories and ideas of socio-cultural and political views of thinking and learning. • Challenging existing dominant conceptions and theories of learning and pointing to the potentialities of socio-cultural and political views in relation to the understanding and development of educational practices. • Supporting students in their use of socio-cultural and political frameworks in researching educational settings.
The course is specially designed for students in the first year of their studies and it aims at: 1. Offering an overview of the main assumptions and issues at stake when carrying qualitative research. 2. Providing a frame for discussing the students’ own methodological design. 3. Providing feedback on students’ problems and necessities regarding their methodological design.
The eruption of the informational society has represented different living conditions that have led to the development of competencies that are far from being acknowledged in formal learning settings. Educational institutions are organizations that have institutionalized practices around the teaching and learning of the areas of knowledge that students need to acquire in order to participate in society as citizens and as qualified work force. These practices seem to be anchored in a solid past where there is little space for fitting people’s new experiences, competences, knowledge and expectations. The gap between students and educational traditions results in an increasing number of dropouts at all educational levels, and in all fields of study from the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, to the social sciences and humanities. This situation poses a challenge to the educational organizations pedagogically and didactically and calls for dramatic changes for the future. Current educational research, however, does not precisely indicate what characterizes a ‘postmodern learner’, or how educational traditions need to be adjusted and transformed to meet such a learner.
The course had an explorative approach towards concepts and ideas such as ‘a postmodern learner’, ‘educational traditions in education’ and ‘the gap between learners and educational traditions in education’. The overall aim was to engage in a discussion of these concepts and ideas, from a variety of relevant theoretical perspectives, in order to bring some clarity to them and connect them to current Ph.D. projects.
