Critical Thinking and Education

http://jah.oxfordjournals.org/content/89/4/1625.full.pdf

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past

PISA, Power and Policy: The Emergence of Global Educational Governance

In this study we investigate the abilities to determine the credibility of digital news among 483 teenagers. Using an online survey with a performance test we assess to what extent teenagers are ab ...

/pdf/swedish-teenagers-difficulties-and-abilities-to-determine-1bampan6yo.pdf

Swedish teenagers’ difficulties and abilities to determine digital news credibility

This volume is a ‘must’ for all those who work on education policy. Indeed, it has the merit of bringing together the principal authors in this field, which means that it can be used as a reference...

Handbook of global education policy

Critical thinking is brought to the fore as a central competence in today’s society and in school curricula, but what may be emphasised as a general skill may also diﬀer across school subjects. Usi ...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/20004508.2018.1475200

Critical thinking in national tests across four subjects in Swedish compulsory school

The aim of this paper is to revise a standard narrative about governance of the Swedish school system in the period of 1910-1980. According to this narrative, the Swedish school system was centralized during this period. However, this narrative does not fit the history of Swedish mathematics education (years 1-9). The research questions are: where in the school system was change initiated and how was change enforced? On the basis of studies of syllabi, textbooks, teaching literature, teacher journals and reports from investigations and development projects, different modes of governance of school mathematics are identified. The main results are that textbook producers rather than national syllabi and exams were drivers of change in the period 1910-1960. Moreover, the centralized attempts to change school mathematics, prepared in the 1960s, were soon abandoned in the early 1970s. Thus, centralized governance of Swedish school mathematics, with the ambition to achieve change, was something that took effect relatively late and during a very short period of time.

/pdf/governance-of-swedish-school-mathematics-where-and-how-did-rel5hko0j0.pdf

Governance of Swedish school mathematics — where and how did it happen? : A study of different modes of governance in Swedish school mathematics, 1910-1980

The paper reports the first results of an ongoing research project aiming at characterizing Swedish school algebra (grades 1-9). Both diachronic and synchronic studies are conducted to identify the specific teaching tradition developed in Sweden and different theoretical approaches are applied in the overall project in order to obtain a rich picture of the Swedish case. The results reported here are based on the analyses of mathematics curriculum, textbooks and focus group interviews with teachers in seven schools. The initial results indicate that, since 1980s, algebra is vaguely addressed in the steering documents and the progression of algebraic thinking is elusive in teachers' discourses. Moreover, certain important ideas, such as generalized arithmetic, are largely missing in the curriculum and mathematics textbooks for grades 1-6. We discuss the implications of the initial findings for our project.

/pdf/characterizing-swedish-school-algebra-initial-findings-from-x8o0tfejre.pdf

Characterizing Swedish school algebra – initial findings from analyses of steering documents, textbooks and teachers’ discourses

Nordic school mathematics revisited – on the introduction and functionality of New Math

The main aim of this paper is to explain why certain parts of the Swedish New Math reform failed. The secondary aim is to nuance the idea about the decline of the New Math in Sweden. The analysis is focused on governance, but also ideological, economical and sociological aspects are considered. The main sources are syllabi, official reports and textbooks. Another type of source is a database of historical textbooks in mathematics. Even though the suggested explanation to great degree concerns the Swedish context, it has a more general relevance. Previous research on New Math in other countries is mainly focused on ideological and sociological aspects of the reforms. This paper also highlights the interplay between factors related to textbooks, governance and economics. It is relevant to consider these factors in other countries as well since textbook development was a part of New Math reforms in many countries.

Johan Prytz

Papers

Critical thinking in national tests across four subjects in Swedish compulsory school

Governance of Swedish school mathematics — where and how did it happen? : A study of different modes of governance in Swedish school mathematics, 1910-1980

Characterizing Swedish school algebra – initial findings from analyses of steering documents, textbooks and teachers’ discourses

Nordic school mathematics revisited – on the introduction and functionality of New Math

The New Math and School Governance: An Explanation of the Decline of the New Math in Sweden