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Key competencies for sustainability (KCS) have been identified as essential for individuals to develop in order to address the complex and interconnected challenges of modern society, many of which involve technology in various ways. Education at all levels—from early childhood to higher education—should provide opportunities for students to cultivate these competencies. This study explores how education prior to university (from preschool to secondary school) can create opportunities for young people to develop KCS, with a particular focus on the subject of technology. The research questions guiding this study are: (1) which KCS are included and taught in technology education at the preschool, primary, and secondary levels? (2) what does the progression of KCS in technology look like from preschool through primary and secondary school? To address these questions, we conducted a systematic literature review and analysed Swedish curriculum documents. The findings reveal that all eight KCS outlined by UNESCO (2017) are relevant and can be developed within technology education at the preschool, primary, and secondary school levels. However, three of the KCS are particularly prominent in the Swedish technology curriculum, while international research studies highlight the relevance of four competencies to technology education. We also identified a progression in KCS development described in the literature, which begins with a focus on “soft” transversal competencies during the early years and advances toward more disciplinary competencies in later years. Finally, we highlight significant gaps in existing research that warrant further investigation.

This presentation concerns an ongoing project about mathematical communication in preschool. The project aims to understand how talk moves (Kazemi & Hintz, 2014), and different types of questions (Cunningham, 1987; Kilhamn & Liljekvist, 2018) can be used in the teaching of mathematics.  This presentation will focus on questions and how these can be used to promote children’s conceptual understanding and collective (Sumpter & Hedefalk, 2015) and creative mathematical reasoning (Lithner, 2008) in a preschool setting. The ability to reason mathematically has been shown to predict later mathematical performance in school (Nunes et al. 2012), and conceptual understanding is needed to be able to reason and communicate about and in mathematics. Children already reason at preschool age, but the development of mathematical reasoning requires teaching from someone who asks questions and helps children make progress (see e.g. Hedefalk et al., 2024).

The four types of questions used in the project are: factual questions, focusing questions, conceptual questions, and evaluative questions (Cunningham, 1987; Kilhamn & Liljekvist, 2018). Factual questions are asked by the preschool teacher when they already know the answer. This type of closed question can be used to introduce a new concept or clarify a concept. For example: “What is this shape called?”, “What is the name of...?” Focusing questions direct the children's attention to something specific. This type of question can be used to find out the child's understanding of a concept. For example: “Can you see a figure that has the same shape?”—while pointing to a circle. Conceptual questions are used by preschool teachers to encourage children to suggest strategies and describe their thinking and reasoning. These questions help move the children's thoughts forward and allow them to verbalise their experiences or solutions. For example: “Could you do it in another way?”, “What happens if…?” Evaluative questions are used to encourage children to justify and argue, to provide evidence for different thoughts and claims. For example: “How come?”, “How do you know that?” The different types of questions have been discussed in research on early childhood mathematics education. However, it appears that preschool teachers primarily use the first two types of questions, that is, closed questions that are more intended to introduce a new concept or direct the children's attention to something than to challenge ideas or develop reasoning (e.g. Björklund & Palmér, 2024; Carlsen, 2013). It can therefore be assumed that asking open-ended questions, such as conceptual and evaluative questions, is something preschool teachers need to practice.

Therefore, one aim of this project is to identify the potential uses of each question type, and to explore and examine how conceptual and evaluative questions can be formulated in relation to specific mathematical domains in preschool. The research question is: 1) How can different types of questions be used as tools to develop children’s mathematical reasoning and understanding of mathematical concepts?

This newly started project is conducted as action research in collaboration with teams of preschool educators from one Swedish preschool. Through multiple cycles of planning (including input from researchers and practising different questions), action, observation, and reflection, we aim to jointly identify effective questions in preschool mathematics. The “action” refers to teaching designed to develop children’s conceptual understanding and mathematical reasoning.

The presentation will reveal preliminary findings, discuss methodological issues and the planned way forward. 

ReferencesBjörklund, C., & Palmér, H. (2024). The challenges of mathematizing in Swedish early childhood education. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 13(2), 167-186. 

Carlsen, M. (2013). Engaging with mathematics in the kindergarten. Orchestrating a fairy tale through questioning and use of tools. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(4), 502–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2013.845439  

Cunningham. R, (1987). What kind of question is that? In W. Wilen (Ed.) Questions, Questioning Techniques, and Effective Teaching, (s. 67-93). National Education Association of the United States. 

Hedefalk, M., Sumpter, L., & Eriksson, H. (2024). Matematiska och etiska resonemang i förskolan: didaktisk modellering som intervention. Forskning om undervisning och lärande, 12(2), 68-84. 

Kazemi, E. & Hintz, A. (2014). Intentional talk: How to structure and lead productive mathematical discussions. Stenhouse Publishers. 

Kilhamn, C. & Liljekvist, Y. (2018). Interaktion i matematikklassrummet. In O. Helenius (Ed), Att bli lärare i matematik. Liber. 

Lithner, J. (2008). A research framework for creative and imitative reasoning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 67(3), 255–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-007-9104-2 

Nunes, T., Bryant, P., Barros, R., & Sylva, K. (2012). The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 136–156. 

Sumpter, L., & Hedefalk, M. (2015). Preschool children's collective mathematical reasoning during free outdoor play. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 39, 1-10. 

Previous research shows that many prospective and early childhood teachers have low self-confidence and negative attitudes towards mathematics (Hollingsworth & Knight McKenna, 2018; Linder & Simpson, 2018; Panero et al., 2023). These negative attitudes influence their teaching of mathematics and thus what children are offered to learn (Geist, 2015; Knaus, 2017; Linder & Simpson, 2018). Offering a sustainable and equitable mathematics education to all preschool children thus means all preschool teachers need to see mathematics as something they have the competence to teach, for which positive attitudes are important.  

The aim of this study is to investigate attitudes towards mathematics among prospective preschool teachers who have just started their teacher education. The results will have relevance for preschool teacher education and give implications for what to consider when working to promote prospective preschool teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics. 

We use the concept of attitude and adopt a multidimensional definition (Wen & Dube, 2022) where cognitive as well as affective and behavioral components are included. 

The study employs a mixed methods design. We used a short form of Tapia and Marsh's (2004) Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) questionnaire, developed and tested by Lim and Chapman (2013), and reflective written texts. 34 students participated in the study. 

Preliminary results from the qualitative data show that prospective preschool teachers have negative experiences of mathematics which affect how they view mathematics and how they feel about the subject. Concerning the cognitive dimension they describe mathematics in words like “it is difficult”, “something I struggle with” and “something we need to know for everyday life”.  About the affective dimension, the participants express no joy for the subject, however, their negative experiences seem to have motivated them to give preschool children better opportunities to learn and enjoy mathematics. We expect further analyses of the reflective texts to provide results concerning the behavioral dimension of attitudes. Also, the questionnaire remains to be analysed.  

The most common method for measuring attitudes is questionnaires that are analysed quantitatively (Wen & Dube, 2022). In recent years, however, several researchers have called for more qualitative methods (e.g. Di Martino & Zan, 2011; Kaasila et al.,2012). To date, there are few studies, especially in the Nordic context, that focus on prospective early childhood teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics with qualitative methods. Thus, our mixed methods approach aims to meet this call.

Teaching materials not only support students but also support teachers in how they transfer their subject knowledge to teaching. Teacher guides are often digital and can address teachers by talking through or talking to the teacher, thus supporting teachers. In this paper a digital teacher's guide for grades 7-9 is analysed to see how it communicates with the teachers. The teacher's guide in technology education was analysed by content analysis in two steps. Firstly, on whether it talks to the teacher or through the teacher, and secondly the units that talk to the teacher were analysed by using six design principles. The results show that most of the guide (75 %) is text that talks through the teacher, e.g. by giving direct instructions for the teacher on how to carry out the teaching. In the remaining sections of the guide, text that talks to the teacher, there are examples of all six design principles. These sections include the purpose and structure of each chapter, describe key content, highlight challenges, suggest teaching adaptations and provide definitions of important terms and concepts. The analysed guide does not take advantage of the benefits of digitalization. Teacher guides should enable teachers to adapt and expand upon the material. It is important to design teacher guides with more text that speaks to teachers, not just through them.

Children’s learning about artefacts as technological solutions is a central part of early childhood technology education. This study investigates what aspects of artefacts teachers address in their teaching as well as any relationships between teachers’ conceptions of technology and their teaching of artefacts. We investigated this using a questionnaire and conducting factor and cluster analyses. Results showed that most preschool teachers include artefacts in their technology teaching. Aspects addressed in this teaching are the artefact’s common use and name, the fact that the artefact solves a problem and has a (purposefully designed) physical nature, humans’ role in its development, and the temporal aspect of the development and that the artefact is a technological object. The most common aspects addressed are the name of the artefact and what it is normally used for. The least common aspects include the artefacts temporal development and the human’s role in their development. Only one cluster-group stated they teach this more often than “almost never”, this is the group that strongly agreed with statements referring to technology as both an artefact and a process. However, agreement with technology being both artefact and process was no guarantee for including this kind of content. This relation is further discussed.

The materials and artefacts utilized by teachers and students play a crucial role in education. In a subject like technology, where many teachers feel they do not have sufficient competence, curriculum materials such as textbooks and teacher guides provide important support for teachers.  Teacher guides, in particular, have the potential to support teachers in different ways. The guidance provided in a teacher's guide can be either directive and talk through the teacher, i.e. telling the teacher what to do, or educative and talk to the teacher, i.e. telling the teacher how to do it and why to do it this way, thereby providing the teacher with knowledge to better understand the teaching of the subject. In this study, we analyze a teacher's guide for grades 7-9 to find out what kind of support it provides the teacher. An adapted framework for the design principles of educative curriculum materials was used. The analysis shows that this particular teacher's guide mostly talks through the teacher, giving the teacher directives on how to teach but without explaining why or suggesting other possible ways. The few educative features found are short and not very detailed. The support an educative teacher's guide could provide would give the teacher agency over their teaching and a better possibility to adapt teaching to situations and students. However, we see little of that kind of guidance in the teacher's guide analyzed in this study and conclude by outlining the possible consequences for technology education.

Developing sustainable early childhood education (ECE) demands competent staff. For this, regular professional development (PD) is significant. This study aims to problematise choices about scientific basis for PD-programs for ECE teachers. A concept for PD that has drawn attention the last years is massive open online courses (MOOC). Although researched and found promising for PD (e.g Herranen et al. 2021), the concept is not entirely compatible with other research on effective PD (Desimone, 2009). We draw on Desimone’s (2009) program theory for effective PD which include five core features: content focus, coherence, active learning, duration and collective participation. This will be discussed in relation to the results and problematised in relation to MOOC. This ongoing study is conducted within a qualitative research paradigm. Through a qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) of the 14 participants' written and oral evaluations of a PD-program designed with inspiration from the MOOC-concept, we study their perceptions of the form of the PD-program. In line with the guidelines of the Swedish research council (2017) consent was collected after the participants had been informed in writing about the aim of the research, valuntary participation and confidential treatment of personal data. Early results show the participants even before starting the PD-program recognized the lack of one core feature - collective participation - as they themselves organized meetings to discuss the course content. The results will contribute knowledge about whether the MOOC inspired PD-program is perceived to provide an effective learning environment for early childhood teachers.

Tidigare forskning visar att blivande och verksamma förskollärare ofta har negativa attityder och lågt självförtroende i matematik. Dessa attityder påverkar deras undervisning och barns möjligheter att lära sig. Förskollärarutbildningen behöver adressera studenternas attityder och främja positiva attityder gentemot matematik. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka blivande förskollärares attityder mot matematik, hur dessa förändras under utbildningen och vilka faktorer i utbildningen som påverkar förändringarna. Studenter i tre stadier av programmet deltar – i termin 1, termin 3 och termin 5. En tvådimensionell definition av attityd anammas och en kortversion av Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) används tillsammans med öppna frågor och intervjuer. Resultaten visar att studenternas attityder är negativa i den affektiva komponenten men neutrala till positiva i den kognitiva komponenten. De flesta studenterna i termin 5 upplever en positiv förändring i attityd under utbildningen på grund av positiva och tillgängliga lärare, ökad kunskap om matematik i förskolan samt utvecklad ämneskunskap vilket de får ”kvitto” på när de klarat ämnestentamen

Previous research shows that many prospective and early childhood teachers have negative attitudes and low self-confidence in mathematics. These negative attitudes affect their teaching and children’s opportunities to learn mathematics. It is crucial that early childhood teacher education (ECTE) address students’ attitudes and work to promote positive attitudes towards mathematics. The aim of this study is to investigate prospective teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics, whether and how their attitudes change during ECTE and what might cause the changes. Students in three stages of the program participate – in semester 1, semester 3 and semester 5. A two-dimensional definition of attitude is adopted and a short version of the Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) is used together with open-ended questions and interviews. The results show that the students’ attitudes are negative within the affective component and neutral to positive within the cognitive component. Most of the students in semester 5 experience a positive change in attitude during education due to positive and accessible teachers, increased knowledge of what mathematics in preschool can be and developed subject knowledge.