Christel Persson is University Lecturer in Science education and Docent in Science education for sustainable development at Kristianstad University. Her current research focus on Earth System Science and teaching and learning in higher education.

Research

Christel Persson is University Lecturer in Science education and Docent in Science education for sustainable development at Kristianstad University. Her current research focus on Earth System Science and teaching and learning in higher education.

Christel has worked in higher education for just over 20 years and earned her PhD in 2008 with the dissertation The Symphony of the Spheres in Transition? Learning in an Environment for Sustainable Development with a Scientific Point of Departure. A Longitudinal Study in the Early Years of Compulsory School.

Her research interests focus on learning in the context of environment and sustainable development from a science-based perspective. The aim of the dissertation was to shed light on how learning in the overarching perspectives of environment and sustainable development is addressed through learning in science subjects.

The study examined pupils’ conceptual development in the form of words, expressions, and games related to environment and sustainable development. The analytical tool Earth System Science model (translated into Swedish as System Jorden) was used as the instrument of analysis in the study.

The doctoral dissertation was awarded a prize and was named a top favorite among Skolporten’s selected dissertations for quality and innovation. The dissertation project has been followed up through studies of how pupils, longitudinally from ages 9 to 15, develop environmental concepts in order to perceive connections and fundamental relationships related to Earth’s natural spheres and the technosphere in science learning. Further work on the theme of sustainable development has resulted in studies within upper secondary school and teacher education, as well as in international collaborations and research projects.

Research and development projects are also ongoing in the areas of environmental innovation and entrepreneurship within the bachelor’s program Environmental Strategist (Miljöstrateg) at Kristianstad University.

Christel has also, on behalf of the Faculty of Science, actively collaborated with colleagues in the implementation of faculty projects related to higher education pedagogy and the development of online teaching, with a focus on student-active learning methods.