This study is part of the project Exploring Six-Year-Olds’ Meaning-Making in Different Subjects through Multimodal Teaching and Their Creation of Digital Animations. A central premise is that an equitable school system should offer all children the same opportunities to participate in education, express themselves, and develop their learning identities. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how pupils in multilingual classrooms use various resources in group activities focused on multimodal text creation. The study draws on the theoretical perspective of Designs for Learning (DfL), in which teaching and learning are conceptualized as forms of multimodal design (Selander & Kress, 2010). By designing learning activities that incorporate both analogue and digital resources, teachers create conditions for six-year-olds’ meaning-making and support their right to express themselves in multiple ways—a core aspect of the school’s democratic mission. The following research questions guide the study: · Which resources do pupils use in the group activities when creating multimodal texts? · Which resources appear to constrain or support pupils’ opportunities to make meaning in the multimodal text-creation activities?

Developing a strong learning identity and confidence in one’s abilities early on is crucial, as these factors influence children’s opportunities for lifelong learning and active participation in democratic practices both in and outside of school. Some children risk falling behind as early as the first year of compulsory schooling. Research has identified tensions between children’s literacy practices at home and in school, particularly regarding the use of digital tools, and these contrasts may negatively affect young children’s learning identities (Livingstone & Sefton-Green, 2016; McTavish, 2009). The empirical material consists of video recordings of pupils’ group-based multimodal text creation, involving both analogue and digital resources. The analysis shows that analogue resources, such as paper figurines, enable pupils who have not yet mastered the school language (Swedish) to demonstrate their understanding of the fairy tale The Three Billy Goats Gruff by retelling it with the support of these materials. In the process of creating the digital animation, the pupils show a high degree of engagement: they interact more with one another than when working with analogue resources, negotiate, ask questions, and contribute in various ways to the shared multimodal text. The preliminary findings highlight the importance of teachers providing access to both analogue and digital resources, as this allows pupils to draw on different competencies and abilities in their meaning-making. This appears to create conditions for democratic learning in which every pupil has the opportunity to express themselves and influence the shared outcome.

In this study, we elaborate on whether – and if so, how – students’ creation of analog and digital representations, in combination, may strengthen their meaning making in combinatorics while engaging in problem solving. An intervention was conducted in two Swedish preschool classes (six-year-olds) involving 25 students. The results indicate that creating a digital animation did not primarily enhance  problem solving but rather served as an aid for students to redesign their analog knowledge representations, enabling them to further engage with the mathematical content. A conclusion is that the creation of analog and digital representations, in combination, contributed to students’ explorations of combinatorics and that, when integrated into a learning-design sequence, digital animations enhanced students' understanding of combinatorics. This conclusion should be seen in relation to the small scale of the study, which means that more studies are needed in order to generalize the findings.

Studien är en del av projektet Utforskande av sexåringars meningsskapande i olika ämnen. En central utgångspunkt är att ett demokratiskt och likvärdigt skolsystem ska erbjuda alla barn samma möjlighet att delta i undervisningen, uttrycka sig och utveckla sina lärandeidentiteter. Syftet med den här studien är därför att undersöka hur elever i flerspråkiga klassrum använder olika resurser i gruppaktiviteter med fokus på multimodalt textskapande. Följande forskningsfrågor guidar studien: Vilka resurser använder eleverna i gruppaktiviteterna för att skapa multimodala texter? Vilka resurser tycks begränsa respektive främja elevers möjligheter att skapa mening i de multimodala textskapande aktiviteterna? Att barn tidigt utvecklar en stark lärandeidentitet och tilltro till den egen förmåga är avgörande eftersom detta påverkar deras möjligheter att lyckas i det livslånga lärandet och att delta aktivt i demokratiska praktiker i och utanför skolan. Vissa barn riskerar att halka efter redan i det första obligatoriska skolåret, då forskning visar på skillnader och spänningar mellan barns litteracitetspraktiker i hemmet och skolan, särskilt vad gäller användningen av digitala verktyg. Dessa kontraster kan påverka yngre barns lärandeidentitet negativt. Studien utgår från det teoretiska perspektivet Design för Lärande (DfL), där undervisning och lärande betraktas som en form av multimodal design. Genom att läraren designar läraktiviteter som inkluderar både analoga som digitala resurser skapas förutsättningar för sexåringars meningsskapande och deras rätt att uttrycka sig på olika sätt; en kärna i skolans demokratiska uppdrag. Elevernas multimodala texter formas i sin tur utifrån deras tidigare erfarenheter, kunskaper och uttryckssätt. Det empiriska materialet består av videoinspelningar av elevers multimodala textskapande i grupp, där både analoga och digitala resurser används. Analysen visar att analoga resurser, som pappfigurer, möjliggör för elever som ännu inte behärskar skolspråket (svenska) att visa sin förståelse för sagan Bockarna Bruse genom att återberätta den med hjälp av figurerna. I arbetet med att skapa den digitala animationen framträder en hög grad av engagemang och deltagande: eleverna kommunicerar mer med varandra än i arbetet med analoga resurser, förhandlar, ställer frågor och bidrar på olika sätt till den gemensamma multimodala texten. De preliminära resultaten visar betydelsen av att lärare erbjuder båda analoga och digitala resurser, då detta ger eleverna möjlighet att använda olika kompetenser och förmågor i sitt meningsskapande. Det tycks skapa förutsättningar för ett demokratiskt lärande där varje elev ges möjlighet att uttrycka sig och påverka det gemensamma resultatet. 

A common challenge in teacher education is the perceived or created gap between theoretical education at the university and practical training at schools (Ebbelind & Helliwell, 2024). Additionally, there is a lack of digitally oriented didactics in teacher education (Papavlasopoulou et al., 2023). This is problematic as many children live in hybrid realities where analog and digital experiences are so intertwined that they cannot be separated. At the same time, some children lack these experiences. This study explores how school-age educare (SAEC) teacher students, who have engaged in both theoretical and practical elements at university and practice schools, reason about designing theoretically based learning activities that include digital tools. The specific research questions are:

In what ways do students perceive that the university course activities prepare them to design hybrid learning activities?

What emerges as central in students’ reasoning about designing SAEC teaching activities that include digital tools?

A central premise of this study is that pupils should develop digital competence early on to be able to become active members of a digitized society. To achieve this, teachers need to make scientifically based didactic choices to promote pupils’ learning (Wernholm, 2024). This study focuses on preparing SAEC teacher students to make such choices regarding the use of digital tools in their teaching practice. Internationally, Swedish SAEC is unique due to its close collaboration with compulsory schools and its combination of teaching, recreation, and meaningful leisure time. However, previous research identifies tensions between what SAEC teachers consider good practice and children’s perspectives on meaningful leisure time (Elvstrand et al., 2023).

This study is theoretically grounded in Design for Learning (Selander, 2008), which views teaching and learning as a form of multimodal design. The study’s design and the SAEC teacher students’ design of hybrid learning utilized tools developed within Design for Learning as part of a university course. SAEC teacher students participated in a teaching sequence with theoretical and practical elements at the university and two days at a practice school.

Data consists of 17 teacher students’ written reflections and two interviews; one individual and one group interview. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes relevant to the study’s purpose and research questions. Preliminary results indicate that several students make explicit connections between theory and practice and express how the course elements help them acquire a theoretical model useful for designing hybrid learning activities in SAEC. Furthermore, the SAEC students express a will to work with hybrid learning activities in their future profession. They explain why and how hybrid learning activities are suitable for SAEC teaching, as they combine planned learning activities with pupils’ interests, making them meaningful. These results highlight the importance of preparing students, both theoretically and practically, for designing hybrid learning activities in SAEC. 

Over the past decades, languages and literacies have become a prominent focus in science education research and practice. While there is broad consensus on the central roles of disciplinary, representational, and cultural languages and their associated literacies in learning and teaching science, the field faces a critical moment. An ever-growing number of new theoretical and methodological perspectives have revealed rich facets of the multilingual and multimodal nature of learning processes in science. These developments prompt us to reflect on the distinct identity and impact of languages and literacies on the contemporary discourse in science education, especially in light of technological innovations (e.g. large-language models) and societal developments (e.g. multilingual contexts). This position paper offers an opportunity to assess the field's past developments and future directions, building on a recent meeting of the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Languages and Literacies in Science Education under the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA). We present viewpoints from four founding members of the SIG, discussing current trends, challenges, and visions for the future. Ultimately, this paper invites our global community to engage in informed dialogues on the role and value of languages and literacies in science education today.

I artikeln undersöks hur elever positionerar sig och vilka kompetenser de använder i skapandet av digitala animationer i hybrida läraktiviteter. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om centrala utgångspunkter för design av undervisning som innefattar hybrida läraktiviteter. Data består av videoobservationer av elever som tillsammans skapar digitala animationer i svenska, matematik och kemi. Studien tar utgångspunkt i det teoretiska perspektivet Design för Lärande, där undervisning och lärande betraktas som en form av multimodal design. Multimodal interaktionsanalys används för att analysera elevernas handlingar. Resultatet visar att eleverna använder tre kompetenser i de hybrida läraktiviteterna; digital kompetens, social kompetens och ämneskompetens. Utifrån hur kunniga och delaktiga eleverna är framträder fem olika positioneringar: kapten, guide, utforskare, missnöjd passagerare och passagerare. I artikeln diskuteras hur de olika positioneringarna och kompetenserna förhåller sig till och varandra och samverkar i hybrida läraktiviteter, samt vad lärare kan fokusera på i sin design av undervisning med digitala verktyg. 

In this article, the focus is on how students position themselves and what competencies they use when creating digital animations. The aim is to contribute with knowledge about important aspects for designing teaching that includes hybrid learning activities. The data consists of video observations of pupils' collaborative creation of digital animations in Swedish, Mathematics, and Chemistry. Multimodal interaction analysis was applied to analyze the pupils' actions. The study is theoretically framed by Design for Learning, where both teaching and learning are viewed as a form of multimodal design. The results showed five different positionings: captain, guide, explorer, dissatisfied passenger, and passenger. Three different competencies that pupils used in the hybrid learning activities were identified: digital, social, and subject competence. How the different positions and competencies relate to and interact with each other in hybrid learning activities were discussed, as well as what teachers can focus on in their design for learning. 

In mathematics education, collaboration between students is often emphasised as something desirable. The focus of this paper is on positioning in mathematics during collaborative problem solving and problem posing while exploring combinatorics. The study utilises the Learning Design Sequence model for lesson design and positioning theory as an analytical framework. In a sequence of lessons, students worked with both problem solving and problem posing, using different ways of representing their solutions, such as pictures, physical objects, and digital animations. One case of two 6-year-old students is used to illustrate their positioning during this sequence of lessons. One conclusion is that, when collaborating, students’ views of each other as learners in general and mathematics learners in particular may hinder the process of meaning making in mathematics. 

Previous research suggests that the use of metaphors in science education have both possibilities and challenges. In this study, we analyse the role of metaphors in meaning-making in the upper primary science classroom. We investigate the potential of metaphors about nutrient uptake occurring in classrooms in which an animation was used. To identify metaphors in the classroom interaction, we have applied an analysis according to systemic-functional grammar (SFG), rooted in social semiotic theory. The present study indicates that the use of metaphors can play an important role in scientific meaning-making, since, in that way, students and teachers can make meaning about scientific processes and functions before having access to the scientific terminology. However, if metaphors are to be functional tools for meaning-making in science education, the teacher has an important role to play in, among other things, explicitly connecting the metaphors and everyday language to scientific concepts. We argue that metaphors based on functional similarity have a high affordance for making meaning about complex processes, such as nutrient uptake.

Today, there is an ongoing debate about the use of digital tools among young pupils. However, previous research indicates that digital tools can play an important role even in the early school years, as hybrid learning activities can promote joint activities with interaction as a natural component. Yet, few studies have explored such hybrid activities. This case study investigates how 6- and 7-year-old pupils in two empirical data sets (one from 2012, one from 2023) position themselves when collaboratively creating digital fairy tales in small groups using a tablet application, and specifically how they position themselves in relation to each other and the task they are to fulfil. The study is grounded in social constructivist theory, which posits that individuals interact through verbal and embodied actions in collaboration with others in social contexts. The data comprises video recordings of the participants’ interaction with each other and their learning tablets. These recordings were first analysed to discern patterns in the pupils' positioning and video episodes with critical sequences were transcribed with tools from multimodal interaction analysis. The analysis revealed several themes, such as pupils’ positioning through both embodied and verbal interaction in terms of invitations for collaboration, negotiations of power, and positioning in relation to the task, primarily in terms of acceptance and perseverance, with resistance being less common. To conclude, the activity appeared complex, inviting the children to various negotiations and positionings through verbal and embodied interaction. Even though most groups solved both concrete challenges and minor disagreements, the complexity of the activity points to the importance of an attentive teacher.

Previous research shows that pupils’ participation in educational activities increases when they are allowed to use several forms of expression. Furthermore, digital media have become increasingly prominent as “carriers” of meaning in chemistry education. Based on that, this paper aims to explore ‘what is happening’ and ‘what is possible’ when six-year-old pupils participate in multimodally designed learning activities and create digital animations of water molecules and phase changes of water. This study is qualitative and draws on the frameworks of social semiotics and Designs for Learning, DfL, where teaching and learning are seen as a multimodal design. The Learning Design Sequence model, developed within DfL is used as a basis for the lesson design and as an analytical tool. The analyzed data were generated by filming when pupils participated in multimodal learning activities, created digital animations, and participated in meta-reflective discussions regarding their digital animations. The main findings are that multimodally designed lessons can increase pupils’ meaning making in chemistry, that the creation of digital animations may both increase pupils’ participation and support their meaning making, and that meta-reflection of pupils’ representations is an important part of the lesson design.