The Evaluation Through Follow-up (UGU) is a large cohort-sequential research study which is used for evaluation and research about schools and education in Sweden (Härnqvist, 2000). The aim of this poster is to investigate academic achievement, attitudes toward school and learning among the share of students who demonstrate the highest cognitive abilities from cohort 10, one of these nationally representative cohorts. The sample of cohort 10 was divided into two subpopulations (i.e., students with high cognitive abilities, other students), where the division of the two groups was based on the 10 percent highest achieving on the aptitude test consisting of two verbal parts (i.e., synonyms, antonyms), one spatial, and one inductive part, carried out in Grade 6 for the UGU data collection. 523 of the students from cohort 10 were identified as students with high cognitive abilities. The students also participated in a student questionnaire about the perceptions of teacher practices, motivation, and attitudes toward school. The questionnaire items were answered on a 4- or 5-point Likert scale with different answer alternatives. The answers to a selection of questions were analyzed with descriptive statistics in IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 and visualized. The main results indicate that students with high cognitive ability in the current sample, demonstrate a strong academic performance, are motivated to learn, and that they have a strong belief in their own academic ability. 

Härnqvist, K. (2000). Evaluation through follow-up. A longitudinal program for studying education and career development. In C.-G. Janson (Ed.), Seven Swedish longitudinal studies in behavioral science (pp. 76–114). Forskningsrådsnämnden. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/26970

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) programme PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills. Data from PISA 2022 allows looking at Swedish students that are top performers in Reading, Mathematics and Science. The participants consist of a nationally representative sample of Swedish students (N= 6072). Besides the tests on Reading, Mathematics and Science, PISA collects information about the students’ attitudes and experiences, as well as on the characteristics of the school environment. It is possible to investigate trends over time concerning the students’ performances comparing with results from previous rounds. PISA collect backgrounds data which allows to investigate the prevalence of academically resilient students (ARS). ARS are academically successful, despite coming from socioeconomically less advantaged backgrounds, which typically are associated with poorer educational outcomes. Individual and contextual factors associated with academic resilience have been described by Erberber et al. (2015), Cheung et al. (2024), while Jacobs & Wolbers (2018) have looked at system factors and resilience. The research questions are: Which are the percent of Swedish students that are top performers students in Reading, Math andScience (level 5 and 6 in PISA)?  Are there changes compared to previous PISA data for these variables? Which is the proportion of students that are academically resilient inSwedish PISA 2022? Which are the characteristics of the learning environments of top performers in Sweden?

The percentage of top performers in Math and Reading was lower in 2022 compared to 2009. In Science the percentage is slightly higher. The percentage of all-rounders, who are top performers in all three subject is quite stable over time. It is worth to consider the group of all-rounder students even if it is a small group. They may have the potential to excel in more than one area of knowledge. The student counselling services may also play a role for these students in helping identify strengths and making career choices based on various considerations and deeper motivation. The knowledge on this group of learners seems limited in educational research. Another consideration is about the larger percentage of students that perform below level 2 in PISA 2022, which is a minimum level of knowledge. About one fourth of students across the subjects do not reach the minimum level, which is a substantial worsening. The percentage of the academically resilient students (ARS) who are top performers in PISA 2022 and have a Medium-Low socio-economical background measured with ESCS index, ranges between 5.3 and 6.3 and it can be considered rather low, compared to previous cross-national studies. This can be interpreted as an indication that the Swedish educational system could do more in term of compensating students for their less advantaged socio-economic background and developing their potentials. The equity of the educational system lays also in efforts in closing not only the achievement gap, but also the excellence gap.

Analyses performed by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs indicate that the educational system must address lifelong education in a context of digitalization, which is a major challenge of the transforming world of work and societal belonging. Mathematically gifted pupils or students are often characterized as independent, non-conformist and autonomous thinkers who are also displaying considerable levels of creativity. When focusing the mathematical content, gifted pupils enjoy working with challenging problems that offer diversified solutions and are explorative about a specific mathematical area. Accordingly, it is indicated that traditional classroom settings do have limited potential to address the needs of the gifted. Hence, the present paper discusses the possibilities to meet the developmental needs of mathematically gifted pupils via digital online learning environments, example here in the form of Digital Interactive Mathematical Maps (DIMM), a freely accessible digital tool developed at the University of Passau, Germany. The DIMM is based on a visualization of the historical development of different mathematical areas, such as geometry, algebra and calculus. Last and importantly, the DIMM is deepened by tasks from mathematical competitions and fostering settings that are connected to mentioned timelines and that pupils can work with in respective contexts.

When solving problems, mathematically gifted individuals tend to internalize intuitive ideas and approaches, and to shorten their reasoning. Consequently, for teachers it is difficult to observe gifted students’ mathematical reasoning in the context of problem solving. In this paper we investigate nine gifted Swedish 9th grade students’ mathematical reasoning during problem solving in small groups at vertical whiteboards. The data consists of 5 filmed group-activities, that were analysed according to a framework of collaborative problem-solving (Roschelle & Teasley, 1995). The analysis shows that every group solved proposed problems successfully within different socially negotiated Joint Problem Spaces (JPS) and, importantly, that students were able to verbalize and display their mathematical reasoning. Additionally, it is indicated that using vertical whiteboards facilitated considerably the exhibition of students’ mathematical reasoning.

The current scoping review mapped empirical research on advanced literacy abilities, and literacy instruction related to such abilities, in elementary and middle school. The search was conducted in three databases. 26 studies from 2010 to 2023 were included; twenty-one were conducted in North America, four in Asia, one in Oceania, and one in Europe and Asia. The majority focused on elementary school. Reading was the primary research area in favor of writing and literacy, unevenly distributed between three themes: Development and Skills, Characteristics, and Instruction. Regarding the overarching results within the area of reading, the findings 1) indicated that advanced readers develop less during the academic year compared to average and struggling readers, 2) that teachers expressed a knowledge on characteristics of advanced readers, but also expressed a lack of pedagogical knowledge on how to meet these students´ needs, 3) that there were infrequent adjustments of content, tasks, or pace in the inclusive language art classroom, and 4) implicated a need to examine provisions at both elementary and middle school level in a wider range of educational contexts, in order to meet the educational needs of students with advanced literacy skills in various educational and cultural contexts. 

Empirical research on advanced literacy skills among students in elementary and middle school,and on literacy instruction related to such skills, was reviewed to map current scientific knowledgeon the topic, and to map identification methods and terms used to describe these students.A comprehensive search in three databases was conducted. Twenty-six studies met the criteriafor inclusion. Relevant results were summarized after a data extraction and thematic analysis. Themajority of the included studies were conducted in North America on elementary school students.Five research themes were identified, where the overarching results emphasize needs fora differentiated literacy instruction, both in terms of content and tasks, explicit instruction, abilitygrouping, and enrichment to enable gifted students to develop according to their potential.Furthermore, the findings indicate the importance of teacher professional development and accessto resources such as appropriate materials and time.

In this paper, by means of a mixed methods approach to data collection and analysis, we examine the impact of linear-equations-related competence on Swedish upper secondary students’ later mathematics achievement. Quantitative data were 307 student solutions to an equations-related word problem posed at the start of their programme and the same students’ terminal grades to the first compulsory general mathematics course. Qualitative data were the written solutions to the word problem and interviews undertaken with purposively selected students. The results showed that students who solved the problem algebraically were not only confident in their solutions but significantly more successful on the terminal assessment than those who solved it by other means. Moreover, students who approached the word problem algebraically but solved it incorrectly, were no less successful than those who solved it successfully by other means.

The Swedish educational system has, so far, accorded little attention to the development of gifted pupils. Moreover, up to date, no Swedish studies have investigated teacher education from the perspective of mathematically gifted pupils. Our study is based on an instructional intervention, aimed to introduce the notion of giftedness in mathematics and to prepare prospective teachers (PTs) for the needs of the gifted. The data consists of 10 dynamic geometry software activities, constructed by 24 PTs. We investigated the constructed activities for their qualitative aspects, according to two frameworks: Krutetskii’s framework for mathematical giftedness and van Hiele’s model of geometrical thinking. The results indicate that nine of the 10 activities have the potential to address pivotal abilities of mathematically gifted pupils. In another aspect, the analysis suggests that Krutetskii’s holistic description of mathematical giftedness does not strictly correspond with the discrete levels of geometrical thinking proposed by van Hiele.

Described as fundamentally egalitarian, the Swedish educational system has, until recently, accorded little attention to gifted pupils. We investigated the effects of an instructional intervention for prospective teachers (PTs), i.e., a seminar about mathematical giftedness and problems appealing to gifted pupils. The PTs used dynamic geometry software (DGS) to construct activities for pupils in mixed-ability classrooms. The results indicate that 9 of 10 activities addressed some main characteristics of the gifted, importantly, the ability to generalize mathematical relationships.

The paper examines the quality of digitized tasks designed by 10 (small) groups of prospective upper secondary school teachers as part of a geometry course assignment. The results indicate that a small instructional intervention, addressing the planning and implementation of tasks in digitized task environments as well as how to stimulate students to make mathematical generalizations, led to a relatively high proportion (8 out of 10) of high-quality tasks designed by the prospective teachers.