Challenge-based learning (CBL) engages students in complex, real-life challenges, promoting responsibility for their learning. Existing research has identified several factors that contribute to students’ motivation in CBL environments. However, prior studies have focused primarily on cognitive and metacognitive learning functions in active learning environments in higher engineering education. Further, affective/motivational functions regulate behaviors and emotions that arise during learning and stimulate affective responses that may positively, negatively or neutrally influence students’ learning process, performance, and well-being. Thus, using Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this qualitative study examines engineering students’ motivation in CBL environments. Twelve Master’s level students from a research-intensive university in Sweden took part in semi-structured interviews discussing their experiences during different CBL courses studies. Analysis combined inductive and deductive approaches, identifying affective/motivational functions emerging from the interviews and analysing them based on SDT concepts. The qualitative thematic analysis identified motivations that emerged such as innovation, entrepreneurship, designing learning, practical experience, real-world problem-solving, and societal contribution through sustainability, grounded by the Self-determination continuum. SDT’s nutritient concepts of autonomy, competence, and relatedness were satisfied through structured tasks, mastery, learning, feedback, and positive social relationships. However, problematic areas such as a lack of rationale in tasks, absence of project choice, insecurity about professional rights, lack of feedback, limited growth opportunities, and negative social relationships frustrated students’ psychological needs. The study suggests practical applications to support motivational needs in higher engineering education, including regulating emotions during learning.

Inclusivity in education is one of the fundamental objectives of the Swedish national curriculum for compulsory schooling. The accessibility of STEM education to students of different genders is essential in achieving this objective. This paper studies the images Swedish and Finnish upper secondary schools used to promote their university preparatory educational orientations, applying discourse analysis to the body of images. As the discourses imbue the orientations, certain positions are enabled for pupils. These positions prescribe who and what is seen as natural in the orientations. We find substantial differences in how the discourses are represented in the orientations. In the STEM orientations, pupils are constructed as less social than the other orientations. In the images from the technology programme, female pupils have a higher representation than actual enrolment, but in these images, they are less active than their male peers. Moreover, the female technology pupil is positioned as engaged with more creative technology subfields while their male peers engage with electronic experiments. This positioning of the female technology pupil is rather conditioning her presence than creating an attractive educational trajectory for her to assume.

Technological enhancement of teaching and learning of mathematics has been an expanding topic of research. A considerable body of research explores the potential of technologies in teaching and learning mathematics, however, a review of the literature shows that there is little research on how students use these digital tools to solve mathematical tasks. This study follows students’ use of a digital tool (Desmos) when working with quadratic functions. The study analyses data collected from 28 Year 11 students from a school in Sweden focussing on the students’ usage of Desmos as they solved multiple tasks. Students worked in pairs, and their discussions were video-recorded and analysed using a content analysis framework. The analysis reveals four categories of approach; solve algebraically and verify with Desmos, solve with Desmos and verify algebraically, integrated method, where students use the tool differently for different problem-solving questions, and lastly using Desmos as an aide, a category including students that used Desmos to solve tasks completely after failed algebraic attempts. Our findings can thus be of great value in assisting teachers in recognising these differences and provide opportunities for students to explore the use of digital tools in enhancing both their learning experience and performance.

 Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) emphasizes student-centered approaches that foster critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and engagement through real-world challenges, preparing students for professional engineering careers. However, the motivational processes underpinning these outcomes have not been systematically explored. This scoping review aimed to identify and synthesize the effects of CBL on student motivation in higher engineering education, guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s protocol. The protocol involved defining the research questions, selecting relevant studies, extracting and analyzing data, and collating and reporting findings. This scoping review examined literature from seven scientific engineering education databases published between 2015 and 2024, resulting in a final selection of 18 articles. The review identified several thematic areas—CBL’s effects on students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the enjoyment and engagement of real-world challenges application, the role of interdisciplinary collaboration and teamworking, the implications of real-world problem-solving for professional identity formation, and the teachers’ role. The review also revealed the predominance of quantitative methodologies, including instruments such as the SRQ-A and MUSIC® model, in evaluating CBL’s impact on motivation, while qualitative approaches, particularly those grounded in Self-Determination Theory, are notably underrepresented. This methodological disparity constrains a comprehensive understanding of students’ learning experiences and the contextual dynamics shaping motivation within CBL frameworks. These findings highlight the critical elements influencing student motivation in CBL contexts and provide insights into effective strategies for its implementation in higher engineering education.

This innovative practice full paper addresses the hypothesis that vocational workforce competence supply can be improved if a structured, strategic and long-term dialogue between local industry and local VET (Vocational Education and Training) governing bodies is established. Demand for vocational workforce is increasing, and by 2040 the demand is expected to exceed availability of resources in most vocational sectors. According to the National Agency for Education Sweden needs to increase the scale of industrial vocational education, both in upper secondary level and in adult education. By 2035, lost productivity due to shortfall in the educated technical workforce is estimated to cost Swedish companies 990 billion Swedish Kronor. An action research framework is used to bring together local decision-makers in a dialogue forum called in Swedish “Strategisk Verkstad och Aktion for Kompetensforsorjnlng” (SVAK). The goal is to improve VET systems through a new form of long-term dialogue in which representatives of the various system sectors meet to discuss challenges, practical solutions, as well as make joint decisions and implement initiatives.

Computational Thinking is part of the new curriculum in many countries and this new competence is often combined with Algebraic Thinking. Both types of thinking are part of the core of Mathematics and Computer Science. Algebraic Thinking is linked to acquiring the ability to represent and generalize patterns in any application area. Furthermore, the ability to communicate a mathematical argument, using the necessary language and symbolism, is a skill that is dependent on training in this type of thinking. Although Algebraic Thinking can be developed at different levels, and it is also developed at university levels, more and more countries see it as a basic mode of thought that should be encouraged from early childhood education. Algebraic Thinking has also a close relationship with Computational Thinking, and they are currently united in different situations, such as the international PISA student evaluation tests. We argue in this paper that this is a transversal competence that can be practiced in any subject and at any age. Sometimes combined with the process of teaching Mathematics. It is essential, in our opinion, to strengthen the inclusion of strategies that encourage students to reflect deeply on the concepts, theories, and applications they are learning, giving rise, among others, to number sense and abstraction. In this paper, we present the implementation of these two types of thinking, algebraic and computational, in the preuniversity curriculum, particularly in Spain, within a European project. In this project, we seek to create more appropriate learning approaches for those who are often disadvantaged and help them to take advantage of Computational Thinking and Algebraic Thinking and, therefore, STEM knowledge, helping to a stronger and more equal society. We analyze its status and its relationship with the concepts taught in the different courses, although focusing on the subject of Mathematics.

Computational Thinking (CT) has developed as a worldwide priority area for compulsory school education since it was proposed as a central 21st century skill by Wing in 2006. CT and Digital Competence are highly visible parts of the European Union and Swedish discourse on strategic workforce development and the Swedish innovation agenda. This chapter explores the emerging role of CT and digital competence in the Swedish compulsory school curriculum. We focus on the subject of technology, its historical role in equipping generations of young Swedes for a career in the technology and engineering domains, and the development of the subject during the 20th century as a result of shifts in government policy, and under the influence of curricula reforms. We conclude that “Technology” is a natural home for CT and related skills such as systems design and development of programmed technical solutions in the current educational system, and propose that the relevance and identity of the technology subject be strengthened through systematic integration of a higher degree of CT into classroom practice.

Motivation: Integrating STEAM education and Computational Thinking (CT) provides the skills of analysis, problem-solving and creativity enhancement necessary to twenty-first century citizens. STEAM education can also be seen as a bridge, reinforcing the link between science, schools and industries. Teachers play an important role as mediators and mentors. The difficulties faced by teachers are not only a lack of knowledge of specific disciplinary terms but also the context in which they are applied, such as the computational context. Problem: In order to clarify the context for teachers, and extend their competence beyond knowledge of basic concepts and terminology, guidance on CT and STEAM education integration in schools has emerged as a pressing problem. Solution: A Design Thinking and CT practices taxonomy interaction framework is proposed, providing scaffolding to teachers as they struggle to understand the context of CT implementation in STEAM education. Results: The proposed framework provides concrete guidance to educators in planning class activities, and choosing suitable educational practices in order to engage students. Implication: The results support educators looking for guidance in the integration process and those seeking to incorporate integrated aspects of students’ STEAM learning into teaching practice.

This study examines the effect of using Desmos on students’ performance in learning functions. An embedded mixed methods design was applied and involved 98 students from an upper secondary school in Sweden. Students’ assessments (pre- and post-test) and opinion polls were the two main data collection instruments. The results show that both groups (experimental and control) experienced a significant improvement in their post-test scores. However, the experimental group had a statistically significant improvement in comparison with that of the control group across the five constructs used in this study. The qualitative data revealed that the majority of the students ascribed a positive effect of the use of Desmos on their general understanding of function concepts, their ability to analyze functions and check their answers through visualization, which are difficult when working using paper and pencil.

This work spotlights the experiences from ten years of implementing sustainable development in all educational programs at a technical university. With a focus on the critical issue of involving more academics in the work, experiences are shared through an ethnographic account including focus group interviews. "€˜Sustainable development"€™ has been perceived as both superficial and overwhelming; unclear yet somehow predetermined; it has been perceived to demand non-existent space in the curriculum; and it has challenged the academics regardless of the subjects'€™ relatedness to sustainability. It is concluded that the evolution of a web of interconnected people, key academics, activities, norms and tools has contributed to an increased participation. The work for authenticity, reliability and feasibility, along with institution-wide and long-term academic development tools is presented.