Welcome to the science education research program (SERP), a part of research centre for education and pedagogy.

SERP research within science education and develops knowledge for the benefit of teacher education, kindergarten teacher education and the related professions. SERP has existed in more than ten years and is involved in several national projects. We both take on the leading responsibility for larger projects and participate as responsible partners in projects led by others. SERP is characterised by a diversity of competencies and experiences among the staff, and we see this as a resource in our work. It is also mirrored in our work with mentoring and sparing with especially new members of the staff.

We develop competencies among students, teachers and kindergarten teachers for planning, developing, performing and assessing teaching and educative activities on a research-based basis. We do this by development of didactics, activities, learning measures and teaching strategies.

We develop and research in primary praxis by creating educative laboratories, where we investigate what happens when new approaches and learning activities are being tested. Our projects are often marked by close cooperation with school and daycare institutions, deep rooting in teacher education and kindergarten teacher education and across professions. We have specific attention to having participants involved in our research and development. It means that our ways of communicating often is targeted at relevant professional praxis. We do also publish internationally to validate our work, in that relation we take part in international networks, especially Nordic collaborations have a significant weight.

Topically we work with research and development related to professional work with science education and pedagogy e.g.:

• Problem based approaches e.g. in relation to modelling competence
• Children and youth’s participatory options in science learning processes
• How nature connectedness can contribute to children and youth’s relations to nature and natural phenomena.
• Teachers and kindergarten teachers’ professional development and professionalism, including their confidence in performing inquiry work in nature and indoor with children and young people.
• Education for UN’s sustainability goals
• Science teacher educators’ life and work
• Science literacy including work with texts and other media