Laborativt arbete i grundskolans senare år: Lärares perspektiv

Abstract

In this paper we describe the results from interviews with science teachers in lower secondary school. The teachers were asked what they wanted to achieve with laboratory work, what difficulties they experienced and if there were any differences between lab work in biology, chemistry and physics. The results show that the teachers wanted lab work to help the students develop their understanding,to make them interested and to develop their laboratory skills. Some of the teachers describedlab work that included scientific inquiry but not, specifically, knowledge about how to systematically investigate phenomena in nature. Aspects of nature of science were rare. Lack of time to discuss with the students during lab work was seen as one difficulty which resulted in problems for students to link observables to scientific ideas. Laboratory exercises in chemistry were often regarded too abstract while lab work in physics and biology were much easier to link to everyday life.