The aim of this study was to investigate students' conceptions of causes, processes and consequences of earthquakes and to examine their geographical understanding of such hazards in terms of spatial and societal-nature relations. Data consists of 134 responses from 12 to 13-year-old students who had completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analysed using content and thematic analyses. Data was complemented with interviews. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of processes causing earthquakes at different plate boundaries, and why poor societies are more severely affected by earthquakes than rich societies. Furthermore, results show that students have a limited understanding of the extent and location of earthquakes in the world. We conclude that instruction aiming to develop students' understanding of earthquakes as a geographical phenomenon and hazard may integrate map-reasoning skills with examples that support contextual thinking. We also suggest that in order to develop students' relational thinking on society and nature, instruction can utilise the concept of capital. Furthermore, teaching needs to take in to account and design instruction to meet students' alternative conceptions that societal consequences of earthquakes are solely predetermined by natural factors such as climate or heat.

I artikeln beskriver vi utmaningar med att förstå begreppet pris i ett system och undervisning som stöder elevers lärande och begreppsbildning. Vi tar också upp att ett begrepp som pris rör politik och politiskt beslutsfattande. Förändring av pris, genom skatt på konsumtion, rör viktiga samhällsutmaningar som klimatförändringar och miljöproblem, ojämlikhet , hälsa och utveckling. SO-didaktik, nummer 13, s. 54-59. Länk för nedladdning: https://issuu.com/so-didaktik/docs/so-didaktik_nummer_13

Previous research in environmental education has called for attention to the impact of knowledge on action, where action is seen as ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’(Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002). Indirect action is for example supporting climate policies that lead to change of behaviour at a collective level. We report a studythat is part of project focusing on the impact of social science knowledge on indirect action, with the aim of investigating students’ understanding of causes toclimate change (e.g., consumption), conceptions of effectiveness of policies – tax, subsidies and regulations and bans – and if this may impact on indirect action; support for the aforementioned policies. Preliminary results show students who find policies effective, support policies, but support bans to a lesser degree thantax, subsidies and regulations. This is interesting as bans is an effective way of changing markets; reducing production of climate impacting goods andincreasing climate friendly goods and services. We also find that students believing that the cause to climate change is lack of information do not supportpolicies. Further research investigating if beliefs in policy being effective/functioning are due to education or other sources of information at anational/international level is a next step. Teachers interested in designing climate education with a focus on solutions at the societal level and policies need topay attention to students’ conceptions of anthropogenic causes as it may impact how relevant they find such a focus, and attention to students’ conceptions ofpolicy as they may differ in relation to product/service. 

In this article, we report findings of students’ conceptions of values and impartiality in political science teaching in relation to research on epistemic beliefs. This field of research concerns students’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge in different disciplines; beliefs that are central to learning disciplinary knowledge. Interviews were conducted with students after one semester of political science education, focusing on their experiences of values in teaching. Results show that students give contradicting answers regarding values and impartiality in political science teaching. They oscillate between different epistemic beliefs and they have an unclear understanding of the nature of knowledge in the discipline. Questions on the nature and limits of knowledge, therefore, need to be prioritized in political science education. If students are to become literate within their field, they need to become aware of the multiple epistemological underpinnings inherent in the discipline, and the ways these influence the discipline.

We present an analysis of pre-service teachers' (PSTs) conceptions of their own learning, focusing on relationships between where PSTs learn and conceptions of their own learning. Our data come from in-depth interviews carried out over a six-month period with PSTs on different routes into teaching. We identify four components of learning to teach: beliefs about knowledge for teaching and the focus, timing and self-determination of reflection. We found weak relationships between PSTs' conceptions and their route into teaching (led by a school or university) and stronger relationships between conceptions of their own learning and their experience of mentoring in school.

The aim of this study was to investigate students' understanding of the Gulf Stream as a geographical phenomenon and in relation to geospatial conceptualizations focusing on the geographical concepts of location, distribution and interaction. Data consists of 134 responses from 12-13-year-old students who completed an assignment in the Swedish national test in geography (2013). The responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Data was complemented with interviews in 2017. Results show that many students hold alternative conceptions of the Gulf Stream in relation to geographical concepts, which implies that instruction should focus on students' geographical contextual understanding, including map-reasoning skills.

This article explores changes of environmental values and beliefs among secondary school business and economics students regarding government and market solutions to climate change. The quantitative study is longitudinal and a survey was administrated to students at two occasions including 212 participants in the first measurement. Results show a small significant increase in importance for altruistic, biospheric and egoistic value orientations at average. At an individual level, there are substantial movements over time. Nearly two-thirds of the students changed the strength of their value orientations over time. Taxes and legislation were regarded as the most effective solutions to climate change, however there was a decrease in seeing market prices as important mechanisms for change. Analysis suggested no direct relationship between change in environmental value orientation and change in norms. However indirect associations were mediated by changing beliefs in the efficacy of education and information and the efficacy of tax policies. For example, students who became more egoistic and more convinced about the efficacy of tax were less likely than others to be willing to take personal actions.

This study focuses on epistemic beliefs in relation to actions to mitigate climate change, and we investigate students’ beliefs and their support for societal actions and personal norms that direct individuals’ pro-environmental behaviour. Students’ conceptions of science - epistemic beliefs - concerns the way they regard scientific knowledge as fixed and certain, or evolving and uncertain. The study used a pen and pencil measurement distributed to the same students at two occasions, the first year’s (T1) measurement included 212 students in business and economics education, aged 17, and this was repeated a year later, in their final year. Changes are analysed through paired sample t-test, and partial correlation analyses were used to explore relations. Results show a weak and positive relation between the belief in certainty of knowledge and a norm of supporting taxes for solving climate change. At T2, a weak and negative relation was shown between recognising ‘science as having one clear-cut answer’ and ascribing solutions to climate change to both business and government. The results could suggest that a view of science as certain can influence the willingness to pay and contribute to solutions, and not ascribing government a responsibility. This however seems contradictory, as government are the initiators of policies such as CO2 taxes. Further research is needed to explain how epistemic beliefs can impact on norms for actions.