Extensive research has established that spatial ability is a crucial factor for achieving success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). However, challenges that educators encounter while teaching spatial skills remain uncertain. The purpose of this study is to develop a research framework that examines the interrelationships, barriers, and enablers amongst various educational components, including schools, teachers, students, classrooms, and training programs, that are encountered when teaching for spatial ability development. A thorough examination of international research, in combination with a detailed review of the primary Science and Mathematics curricula in Ireland, Latvia, Sweden, and the Netherlands, is undertaken to acquire a more concentrated comprehension of the incorporation of spatial components in the curriculum. The review seeks to establish the fundamental factors that enable or hinder teachers in terms of curriculum, pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge, and spatialized classroom practices.

This study investigates the question of how Engineering education in the Nordic region responds to the challenge of educating future engineers who are ready for professional practice in a digital world. Particular interest is put on identifying who is responsible for the implementation of digital knowledge and what and how subject content is addressed. Our study draws on Bernstein’s pedagogical device model (Bernstein, B. 2002. “Editorial: Basil Bernstein’s Theory of Social Class, Educational Codes and Social Control.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 23 (4): 525–526). The study focuses on the questions of if/how digital transformation leads to change of engineering education content and/or pedagogical approaches. Narratives of 20 university teachers have been collected and analysed. Findings reveal three areas of consideration; there is a connection between how digital knowledge is valued and how the subject is introduced in engineering education, differences in digital knowledge can be linked to the generation gap and, universities are seldom seen as the driving force for digital innovation. It is concluded that education must reflect on the purpose for which digitalisation takes place, continuous training targeting digital transformation should be offered to senior teachers and, universities need to provide increased focus and dedicated time for educational development.

Description

Today, we find ourselves in a global situation where conflicts within and between countries are increasing, or at least becoming more apparent and having greater consequences than just a decade ago. Military build-up and increased policing are current responses to the rising violence in these situations. We argue that humanity lacks much-needed knowledge about the crucial factors when societal climates deteriorate. While external factors like resource scarcity, limited freedoms, and reduced influence are recognized as triggers for negative reactions, comprehending how societal climates shift, even in relatively prosperous environments, remains a challenge. We want to investigate and discuss whether peace innovation is a missing research area that has the potential to contribute to increased global peace and fewer conflicts in society. We see this research field as interdisciplinary but emerging from a technical perspective, meaning that we incorporate technology and disruptive new technological areas as means to achieve our goals.

We envision opportunities to strengthen innovation processes that enhance understanding among people and improve communication capabilities and increase empathy among different groups and cultures. Inspired by initiatives such as Stanford’s Peace Innovation Lab (https://www.peaceinnovation.stanford.edu/), a center aiming at creating technology that systematically augments our ability to engage positively with each other, we see this conference as a unique opportunity to discuss what establishing such a field would entail. We would love to run a 2-hour workshop aims to familiarize participants with the concept of peace innovation and explore strategies for promoting positive engagement across diverse boundaries. The agenda includes an introductory session, an icebreaker activity focusing on group identity mapping, an interactive exercise simulating interactions (based on contact theory principles), a brainstorming session on Peace Tech/innovation interventions, and a closing discussion on how to collaborate to contribute to the planned special issue.

While the demand for employment in engineering is growing, most Nordic countries are struggling to attract enough adolescents to study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Previous studies have identified outreach activities as an essential tool for sharing information about STEM education, but their effectiveness in motivating adolescents to apply for engineering education is difficult to measure. To counteract the decline in recruits, universities are looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of their STEM outreach activities. This study examines how different university-led STEM outreach activities are designed to support adolescents’ interest development in STEM subjects. The data is based on semi-structured interviews with the organisers of 10 Nordic outreach activities, ranging from one-day events to nationwide umbrella organisations involving universities. The resulting 100 descriptions of supporting interest development in STEM subjects are analysed using content analysis. The findings identify common practices for supporting interest development in STEM subjects by supporting relatedness, strengthening competence, promoting autonomy, raising awareness, and building knowledge in STEM. The present study reveals the significance of applying both affective-emotional and cognitive-rational practices to create engaging outreach experiences that motivate participants to study engineering.

There exists a plethora of studies that have related pupils’ spatial ability to their academic achievement and problem-solving skills, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. However, little is known about how spatial ability could be presented in a national curriculum. To increase the awareness and intention to develop pupils' spatial ability within the national curriculum, the compulsory curriculum document from the Swedish National Agency for Education which details all subject syllabi is examined and analysed using a content analysis method. The results show that two major dimensions could be used to locate the potential spatial ability development within the curriculum. The first is a visual dimension, which manifests as three different visual components: graphical, pictorial, and manufactured. The second is an epistemic dimension, which describes how pupils' different types of spatial knowledge can be nurtured, and inductively described as conceptual, procedural, and spatial citizenship knowledge. A three-by-three matrix framework is created based on the above dimensions and components. Policymakers and educators in Sweden, as well as in other countries, may draw insights from the framework created by this study and adapt it to educational practice, particularly in the realm of developing students' spatial ability through curriculum design and classroom instruction.

Spatial ability has been demonstrated to be a significant predictor of students’ achieve- ment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. While several stud- ies have focused on offering supplementary or isolated spatial training interventions, this study focuses on spatial ability development through embedded interventions within tech- nology curricula. Specifically, document analysis is adopted in this study to identify the potential areas for spatial ability development within the Swedish compulsory Technology and Craft curricula. A framework consisting of two dimensions has been established by a qualitative coding approach. The first dimension, termed the “visual dimension”, encom- passes graphical, property, and manufactured components, reflecting the spatial nature of the information that students engage with. The second dimension, termed the “epistemic dimension”, comprises conceptual and procedural knowledge, representing the types of knowledge students acquire. The framework allows educators to identify potential areas for developing spatial ability within technology curricula. Additionally, it is envisioned that this framework could increase awareness of how to spatialise curriculum and pedago- gies among various stakeholders, including policymakers and teacher trainers. 

There is a recognized need for research on how to teach computer programming in primary schools in Sweden grades 4–6 (10–12-year-old pupils). Studies of teaching show the importance of teachers’ knowledge of content and pedagogy and how these two parts affect each other (i.e. pedagogical content knowledge [PCK]). Most teachers in Sweden have little or no formal education in computer programming, the revised Swedish curriculum requires them to teach it. The aim of this study is to explore the pedagogical strategies teachers use when they teach computer programming. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants, comprising 12 teachers and 2 teacher trainers. The data were analysed deductively with themes from previous research. The results show that teachers use eight pedagogical strategies, including three new strategies that have been constructed inductively: do-it-yourself, gamification and progression. These eight pedagogical strategies are mostly general, and teachers may be considered regressed experts, as they lack formal training in computer programming. They facilitate learning in a general sense, but, compared to other subjects, their PCK in computer programming is problematized. In-service teacher training is needed to increase content knowledge, thus enabling to develop PCK in computer programming. It would also be fruitful to deepen our knowledge regarding pedagogical strategies in the PCK domain of computer programming. 

This study examines Swedish teachers' teaching and assessment practices in programming education for students in grades 4-6, with a focus on the technology subject. It investigates whether existing governing documents provide sufficient guidance for effective teaching and assessment in programming, particularly regarding Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). The study addresses challenges faced by teachers, including limited training and a lack of instructional guidelines, stressing the importance of bridging this gap to support effective programming instruction and assessment. It explores assessment practices in programming within the technology subject, referring to previous studies that identify various approaches. The discussion includes product and process criteria for assessing programming tasks and emphasizes the need for clearer links between programming assessment and core technology content. The methodology involves semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers who taught programming prior to its inclusion in the curriculum. Analyzing the interview data helps examine alignment between teachers' assessment practices and governing documents. Results and discussion focus on one teacher, Camilla, with six years of programming teaching experience. It describes how Camilla facilitates curriculum goals and aligns assessments with grading criteria. The article also summarizes specific areas assessed in programming education and compares Camilla's criteria with essential content knowledge from previous studies. Based on the findings, the study concludes that while Camilla demonstrates comprehensive understanding of assessing programming knowledge, improvements are necessary in primary school programming education in Sweden. The existing governing documents inadequately support effective programming instruction, particularly in terms of content knowledge. It suggests identifying key characteristics of quality programming education at each stage of compulsory schooling and engaging in discussions to establish a strong educational foundation.

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.

Spatial ability has been shown to have a causal relationship with students' success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. While an abundance of research has investigated how spatial ability development is and could be integrated to science, engineering, and mathematics curricula, little attempt has been made to date to situate where spatial ability manifests in technology curricula. This paper uses document analysis to examine the locations of spatial ability related learning outcomes within the craft and technology curricula in Swedish compulsory education. A qualitative inductive approach is employed to analyse the policy document from the Swedish National Agency for Education. We argue that spatial ability development manifests in the Swedish craft and technology subject curricula along two dimensions. First, the curricula are underpinned by visual components, which are graphical, pictorial, and manufactured components. Second, along with the visual components, the curricula are delivered with the aim of constructing students' conceptual and procedural knowledge. Whilst the technology curriculum dominantly cultivates students' conceptual and procedural knowledge by interacting with the graphical and manufactured components such as sketches and objects, the craft curriculum is taught in a more diverse way where students are not only required to deal with graphical and manufactured components but also to involve in various pictorial components that convey cultural and historical meanings by craft products.