A systematic review of research on how students and teachers use didactic learning materials in L1

We present the results of a systematic review of research into how students and teachers in primary and lower secondary schools use didactic learning materials. Didactic learning materials are learning resources that are made for purposes of teaching and/or learning. We include both digital and analogue learning resources and methodically diverse research from years 2008 to 2018. We are interested in finding out how much research there is in this field, which aspects of use are investigated, what the research can tell us about the use of didactic learning materials, and how the research was conducted methodically. A prior review (Knudsen and colleagues, 2011) of research on learning resources in the Nordic countries and five other European countries between 2000 and 2011 showed that research in learning materials was primarily preoccupied with content and form, and rarely their use by students and teachers. Methodically, observations in classrooms and interviews were seldom. Wikman and Horsley (2012) compared textbook research conducted in Finland and Australia and found that in the area of “research analyzing activities in classrooms also including the use of educational aids” there were too few findings and hence excluded it from their review. We will present the results of our review and our method of analyzing the included studies. Furthermore, we will reflect on the issue of generating search terms for identifying research on didactic learning materials, which in turn has implications for both future research as well as the ability of researchers to participate in an international, cumulative dialogue. Finally, we will propose a research agenda for moving the field forward.