Att utbilda framtidens problemlösare: Med kritiska perspektiv på innovation i mellanstadiets NO- och teknikklassrum

This project explores and challenges how science and technology education can support students in grades 4–6 in
solving complex sustainability problems. Aligned with feminist technoscience critique, we aspire to broaden the
concept of innovation in the classroom—both in terms of who is recognized as innovative and which solutions that
are considered innovative.
The project addresses a need for empirical research on how to teach for systems thinking and problem solving in
primary school. Such research is important to support students’ in handling global challenges and also to reduce
their climate anxiety. Moreover, the project addresses the need to challenge stereotypical notions of innovation
in education, since innovation is often associated with economic growth and high-tech products rather than, for
example, ideas that promote social justice.
To meet these needs, researchers and teachers will coteach in the teachers’ classrooms—an approach rarely
tested in educational research. Data collection includes classroom recordings, student interviews, and teacherresearcher
reflections. Using ‘pedagogical epistemological analysis’ and ‘critical science/technology agency’, we
examine how ‘gaps’ emerge and close in students’ problem-solving as well as in the teacher- researcher
collaboration and how students position themselves as capable of using science and technology to change the
world.