Britt Jakobson

My research concerns the significance of communication when students learn science at school. I am interested in students’ discussions with each other and the teacher during scientific inquiries, but also in whole class discussions about science. My interest is first and foremost directed towards elementary school but also to lower secondary school. Another focus is which consequences the use of multimodal resources has for students learning in science.

As from 2014 I am participating in a three years long project directed towards elementary and secondary school in which we study multilingual students learning in biology and physics. The project is interdisciplinary in its focus on both subject and language. The overall purpose of this project is to attain a deeper understanding of how science content in biology and physics in elementary and lower secondary school is mediated through different resources in various modes, such as verbal language, action and visualization. The more specific aim of the project is to study classroom interaction, including teachers and students, focusing on how science content is elaborated and negotiated through various semiotic and multimodal resources and how student meaning-making is made visible.

Selected publications

• Axelsson, M., & Jakobson, B. (2010). Yngre andraspråkselevers meningsskapande i naturvetenskap genom tre analysverktyg. Nordand. Nordisk tidskrift for andresprogsforskning, 5, 9-33.
• Jakobson, B., & Axelsson, M. (2012). ”Beating about the bush” on the how and why in elementary school science. Education Inquiry, 3, 495-511.
• Jakobson, B., & Wickman, P-O. (2008). Art in science class vs science in art class: A study in elementary school. Education & Didactique, 2, 141-157.
• Jakobson, B., & Wickman, P-O. (2007). Transformation through language use: Children’s spontaneous metaphors in elementary school science. Science & Education, 16, 267-289.
• Lundin, M., & Jakobson, B. (in press). Situated meaning-making of the human body – a study of elementary school children’s reasons in two different activities. Cultural Studies of Science