Ragnhild Löfgren

This paper presents a study of children’s ideas of the body’s internal structure. Children between four and 13 years (N = 170) individually produced drawings. During each drawing session the children explained their drawings to a facilitator and added written labels either by themselves or, if they were too young to write, with the facilitator’s help. The results provide an updated comprehensive picture of children in different age groups and their views on the internal structure of the body. The type and numbers of organs drawn are similar to those documented in previous studies. However, in comparison to recent studies, the children drew more organs, the brain was indicated almost as often as the heart, and the Valentine heart was frequently used as a symbol. In contrast with previous research, children drew connections between organs. This result calls for caution regarding conclusions made from decontextualized questions. The importance of providing children with the opportunity to clarify their drawings is emphasised since it otherwise becomes a question of the researcher’s interpretation. The connections they draw, and explanations they give to their drawings, have interesting implications for understanding children’s ideas, and hence both for teaching and learning and for science education research.

The starting point for this article is changes in the Swedish assessment system which stated that pupils are to receive grade reports in school year 6 (12–13 years old) during the academic year 2012–2013. Since the 1970s, compulsory school pupils have received their first grade reports in grade 7 and/or 8. The issue here is to present pupils’ narratives about the possible future significance of grade reports in school year 6. Pupils were interviewed about their experiences of getting their first grade reports, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, we investigated pupils’ conceptions of themselves as pupils and of their future possibilities, as described in their stories of getting their first grade report. The findings show that pupils perceive grades in year 6 differently, showing both adaption and resistance to the new grading discourse. Our conclusion concerns pupils’ learning and well-being when national assessment policies are changed.

In Sweden, the policy of national testing was expanded in 2013 by introducing national tests in science in the sixth grade. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about the enactment of this policy of national testing by investigating students’ experiences of taking the tests. Students were interviewed about their experiences of taking national tests, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, the students’ stories were analysed in terms of identity performances taking shape in relation to a testing discourse. The analysis shows a variety of aspects that the students themselves stress as important when taking the tests; such as the lack of time provided, difficulties regarding the actual tests, processes in the classroom context, and the importance of the test results for their grades. Several of the identity performances in the students’ stories refer to a testing discourse stressing that teachers focus on testing procedures rather than caring for the students when the policy of national testing is enacted. The results also emphasize the difficulties in understanding the test questions as well as discrepancies in science content between what is taught in school and what is being tested.

This paper investigates educational resilience from the pupil’s perspective through an analysis of how Swedish pupils in grade six position themselves in relation to their parents’ expectations and the school’s grading practice. The term ‘resilience’ refers to pupils’ own views of their potential to learn and succeed in school in a social context, where parents are important as normative actors. Data consists of group interviews with pupils at three schools. By using a narrative analysis, a perspective is adopted that considers the multiple meanings involved when pupils position themselves in their stories about grades and parents. The analysis illustrates how a situated understanding of pupils’ senses of resilience makes family expectations, and the importance of pleasing yourself and others and of adapting to grading systems, important aspects to pupils’ own views of their potential to learn and succeed at school. Home and school stand out as different arenas based on the norm of success, but with different ideas about how to deal with schoolwork and grades. A conclusion is that changes in the Swedish grading system might result in a gap regarding knowledge about grades at home and school and double pressure on pupils to achieve good grades.

This study focuses on classroom communication within an inquiry-based science education (IBSE) program, called NTA (Naturvetenskap och Teknik för Alla). The overall aim of the study is to highlight the ways in which productive and engaging conversations are conducted in the classroom. We have analysed the work within the unit ”The Chemistry of food” and the theme testing of fat in food in grade five and six in a Swedish and a Danish science classroom. We have used video cameras and mp3-players to follow the classroom interaction. Our findings indicate that the classroom communication was focused on everyday science content and that the introduction and the summary of the theme were very important for the pupils’ possibilities to productive disciplinary engagement.

This study describes the dilemma of making science interesting on the one hand, and to introduce students into a scientific teaching practise on the other in a laboratory based teaching practise. The study was conducted in a grade four class in Swedish compulsory school by video- and tape-recorded classroom observations. The recordings and copies of students’ writing and drawing were analysed by using a two-fold strategy. Firstly, the constituted content was analysed by focusing the classroom communication, the tools used and the teacher’s guiding. Secondly, the various laboratory experiments where analysed in order to identify the potential chemistry content. The result indicates that the constituted chemistry content is reduced and sometimes wrong in relation to the potential content. This can be explained by a teaching tradition that focuses on the importance of making science interesting and fun. However, striving for this may create a learning-situation where students do not learn how to use tools to make relevant hypotheses and observations. What can be regarded as irrelevant hypotheses and observations is not questioned. Further, right or wrong results in the scientific practise are not dealt with neither in the self-produced texts nor in the classroom discussions. One main conclusion is that students enjoy the lessons but the introduction into the scientific practise is not facilitated.

Summary: CR3 and FcγRs are the main receptors involved in the phagocytic process leading to engulfment and killing of microbes by production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and degranulation. Various inflammatory mediators, such as tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), are known to prime neutrophils leading to increased bactericidal responses, but the underlying mechanism of priming has only been partially elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate how TNF‐α primes neutrophils for subsequent stimuli via either CR3 or FcγR. The receptors were specifically activated with pansorbins (protein‐A‐positive Staphylococcus aureus) coated with anti‐CR3, anti‐FcγRIIa, or anti‐FcγRIIIb monoclonal antibody. Activation of neutrophils with these particles resulted in ROI production as measured by chemiluminescence. Anti‐CR3 pansorbins induced the most prominent ROI production in neutrophils. TNF‐α potentiated the CR3‐mediated respiratory burst but had little effect on that mediated by FcγRs. The priming effect of TNF‐α on CR3‐mediated ROI production is associated with an increased activation of p38 MAPK as well as tyrosine phosphorylation of p72^syk. Pretreatment of neutrophils with the inhibitors for p38 MAPK and p72^syk markedly suppressed the respiratory burst induced by CR3. Furthermore, TNF‐α induced about a three‐fold increase in the expression of CR3 in neutrophils, an effect which is blocked by the p38 MAPK inhibitor. Taken together, these results showed that TNF‐α potentiates the CR3‐mediated respiratory burst in neutrophils not only by triggering a p38 MAPK‐dependent up‐regulation of CD11b/CD18 but also by modulating the signalling pathways.

Beta 2 integrins are involved in the adhesion of leukocytes to other cells and surfaces. Although adhesion is required for cell locomotion, little is known regarding the way beta 2 integrin-receptors affect the actin network in leukocytes. In the present study filamentous actin (F-actin) levels in non-adherent human neutrophils have been measured by phalloidin staining after antibody cross-linking of beta 2 integrins. Antibody engagement of beta 2 integrins resulted in a rapid and sustained (146 and 131% after 30 and 300 s, respectively) increase in the neutrophil F-actin content. This is in contrast to stimulation with N-formyl-l-methionyl-l-leucyl-l-phenylalanine (fMLP), which causes a prompt and pronounced but rapidly declining rise in F-actin (214 and 127% after 15 and 300 s, respectively). Priming neutrophils with 1 nM PMA, a low concentration that did not influence the F-actin content per se, increased the magnitude of the beta 2 integrin-induced response but had no effect on the kinetics (199% after 30 s and 169% after 300 s). Removal of extracellular Ca2+ only marginally affected the beta 2 integrin-induced F-actin response for cells that were pretreated with PMA whereas the response for nonprimed cells was reduced by half. This suggests that even though extracellular Ca2+ has a modulatory effect it is not an absolute requirement for beta 2 integrin-induced actin polymerization. beta 2 integrin engagement did not affect the resting cellular level of cAMP arguing against a role of cAMP in beta 2 integrin-induced actin assembly.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)