How does matter matter? Gendered, emotional and material entanglements in student-teacher-material learning

Experimental activities are at the core of learning in science and technology. Therefore, such activities are included as an important and established part of the education and curricula. From working in laboratories, students are expected to develop their understanding of science’s material codes.

Entities, from simple equipment to advanced instruments, require knowledge of when, why and for what they can and should be used, and the students are required to learn the practical craft of how to handle equipment.

Emotional outcomes from experimental activities may be feelings of success and satisfaction, or disappointment, lingering worries and nervousness.

Such feelings may be of crucial importance for a student’s decision to start, or continue, her/his science/technology studies.

This project will explore how experimental practices shape learning processes, beyond human-human interaction, in a selection of educational programs at upper secondary school and university.

The purpose is to examine how students’ and teachers’ gendered and emotional embodiment of scientific practices, through entangled intra-actions with each other and matter/material, influence science teaching and learning.

Three methods of data collection will be employed: shadowing observations, students´ snaplogs and interviews with students.