For the moment I mainly teach in PhD-courses and supervise PhD-students. I also do some teaching in teacher education programmes. 

Ongoing projects

• Disciplinary literacy in primary teacher education. Financed by the Swedish Research Council 2023-2026, project leader Ewa Bergh Nestlog, Linnaeus University.
• Multimodal meaning making and assessment in linguistically diverse science classrooms. Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish Research Council 2024-2027, project leader Fredrik Jeppsson, Linköping University.
• Theory of evolution in comics. Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish Research Council 2024-2026, project leader Johanna Frejd, Linköping University.
• Exploring six-year-olds' meaning making in different subjects through multimodal teaching and their creation of digital animations. Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish Research Council 2024-2027, project leader Marina Wernholm, Linköping University. 

Previous

• Transformations of transformations. An interdisciplinary study of pupils' meaning-making through transformations of representations in science classes https://lnu.se/en/research/searchresearch/forskningsprojekt/project-transformations-of-transformations/ Financed by the Swedish Research Council 2018-2021. Project leader
• Animated chemistry – the new kind of learning? Interdisciplinary developmental project, financed by The Swedish Institute for Educational Research 2017-2018, project leader professor Magnus Hultén, Linköping University.
• Multilingual students' meaning making in the school subjects biology and physics. Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish Research Council, 2014-2017, project leader professor Monica Axelsson, Stockholm University.
• Chemistry texts as tools for scientific learning. Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish Resarch Council 2007-2011, project leader professor Inger Eriksson, Stockholm University

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Representations of science content in a primary classroom: Combining long and short timescales for multimodal analysis

  2023. Kristina Danielsson (et al.). Science Education 107 (6), 1561-1592

  Article

  This study reports on a case study about multimodal work in a primary physics classroom focusing on forces. Previous research reports that students benefit from multimodal work in science classrooms. Yet, few systematic studies have been performed to reveal how students represent their experiences and ideas of science phenomena over time within and across different semiotic modes (e.g., through action, speech, writing, and image, including multimodal ensembles). The design of the lessons was built around a number of experimental activities, starting with a puzzling phenomenon and where students for each experiment predicted, observed, described, and tried to come up with explanations. Based on social-semiotics, we combined analysis at an overall level (long timescale and large grain size) and a detailed level (short timescale and small grain size) to shed light on how the science content was represented within and between modes over the teaching and learning period, and what content was expressed in these representations. Our findings reveal how students moved from focusing on attributes such as a “heavy” regarding artifacts used in the experiments, towards the central physics processes, such as one object exerting force on another object. Furthermore, we were able to detect that such “signs of learning” were shown in students’ small-group discussions and multimodal texts following a carefully orchestrated multimodal exposition by the teacher. Hence, such a careful multimodal orchestration appeared to be critical for the students’ meaning-making about the science content.

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• Affordances of physical objects as a material mode of representation

  2022. Kok-Sing Tang (et al.). International Journal of Science Education 44 (2), 179-200

  Article

  This paper examines the affordances of physical objects (e.g. apparatus, models, manipulatives) as they were used by teachers and students to make meaning in coordination with their speech and gestures. Despite the pervasive use of physical objects as material and tactile resources in hands-on investigations or demonstrations, there have been few attempts to analyze their role and function in meaning-making, in the same way, that researchers have previously done for other modes of representation such as speech, written text, diagram and gesture. Using social semiotics as a theoretical framework, we conceptualise physical objects as a semiotic mode with a particular affordance for making meaning that involves embodied actions and manipulation of tools. Based on a multimodal discourse analysis of numerous classroom situations, we illustrate how physical objects as a mode have four unique affordances for meaning-making in science classrooms. These affordances are: (a) enacting material interaction, (b) providing evidential meaning, (c) orientating three-dimensional spatial meaning and (d) sensitising experiential meaning. The implication of why we should use physical objects to support or value-add science meaning-making is then discussed. 

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• Meaning-Making in Ecology Education: Analysis of Students’ Multimodal Texts

  2023. Hanna Wanselin, Kristina Danielsson, Susanne Wikman. Education Sciences 13 (5)

  Article

  Teaching and learning in ecology depend on multimodality, involving semiotic resources such as visual representations, subject-specific symbols, and written and spoken language. Furthermore, the ecology field involves complex processes and relationships, presenting student challenges. However, more research has yet to investigate how students design multimodal texts to represent complex biological processes. For a holistic understanding of ecology, it is crucial to understand different complex processes, such as the matter cycle, energy flow, decomposition, and their relations. Therefore, this study aims to, through multimodal text analysis based on systemic functional linguistics (SFL), identify how secondary students collectively present and combine such processes and how they position themselves through their textual choices. Results indicate that representing biological processes comprises several challenges for students. One way in which this is shown is the unclear use and meaning of arrows. Thereto, the students include various aspects uncommon in the field of ecology, for example, symbols inspired by comic books, values, and the role of humans, thereby relating ecosystems to their interests and everyday life. Implications for teaching are discussed, for instance, the importance of supporting students in terms of scientific content and how to represent it, which can be conducted through text discussions.

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• Elever i ett språkligt heterogent klassrum rör sig mot naturvetenskapliga beskrivningar av ljud

  2022. Jenny Uddling, Kristina Danielsson. HumaNetten 48, 113-137

  Article

  Den här studien belyser hur ett ämnesinnehåll bearbetas i ett naturvetenskapligt klassrum där flera elever undervisas på sitt andraspråk. Närmare bestämt undersöks om och i så fall hur eleverna i ett språkligt heterogent fysikklassrum i årskurs åtta, i samtal mellan lärare och elever samt mellan elever, ges stöd i att utveckla en allt mer naturvetenskaplig beskrivning av ljud.

  De data som ligger till grund för studien består av video- och ljudinspelningar, digitala foton och insamlade texter från fyra fysiklektioner. Analysen grundas i socialsemiotisk teori (Halliday 1978), med verktyg från systemisk-funktionell grammatik (SFG) i syfte att identifiera tecken på lärande i elevernas uttryck.

  Resultatet visar att läraren iscensatte aktiviteter som bidrog till elevernas möjligheter att utveckla kunskaper om ämnesinnehållet och att uttrycka sig om ljud på ett alltmer ämnesadekvat vis. Emellertid gav några av de språkliga resurser som läraren erbjöd inte det stöd som kanske var avsett. Studien har implikationer för hur lärande i språkligt heterogena natur-vetenskapliga klassrum kan främjas, där en central aspekt är att lärare på ett medvetetet sätt själva använder språket och att de resonerar med eleverna om hur detta bidrar till att uttrycka ämnesinnehållet.

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• Digital högläsning för flerspråkande i förskolan

  2023. Malin Nilsen, Petra Petersen, Kristina Danielsson. Utbildning och Lärande / Education and Learning 17 (4)

  Article

  This study examined the potential for children’s multilingual development supported by a digital e-book application (Polyglutt) used in Swedish preschools. The analysis focused on the app’s software design and the reflections of 17 preschool teachers in a large Swedish city, many of whom work with multilingual groups of children. A social semiotic perspective of multimodality was utilized to evaluate the app’s potential and a qualitative content analysis was employed to analyse the interviews. Findings indicated that the app was popular among the teachers and was considered an efficient tool for read-aloud activities, although the potential for multilingual purposes was rarely realized. The analysis shows that the app has potential for multilingual interaction, yet the design does not always make this clearly visible. Didactic implications of the use of the application are critically discussed.

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• Signs of Learning: Multiple Modes as Support for Interaction in a Linguistically Diverse Physics Classroom

  2022. Kristina Danielsson, Jenny Uddling. Education Sciences 12 (10), 1-23

  Article

  Students’ and teachers’ meaning making in science classrooms is dependent on language in a broad, multimodal, sense, comprising specialized lexicogrammar and ways of using semiotic resources such as models, diagrams, and subject specific symbols. Altogether, the multimodal demands of science can be challenging, in particular for students learning the language of instruction in parallel with the subject content. Yet, multimodal perspectives are scarce in research concerning science learning in linguistically diverse classrooms, where several students are educated in their second language. Drawing on designs for learning theory, the interaction in a linguistically diverse physics classroom was analyzed through the Learning Design Sequence model to investigate the teacher’s design for learning for students’ meaning-making about ‘sound’. Thereto, students’ ‘signs of learning’ regarding subject content and how to communicate content in line with the discourse of science was analyzed. The teacher’s design for learning gave the students opportunities to interact about content by use of different semiotic modes, with gradually higher demands regarding both content and how to express the content which appeared to support students’ development of content knowledge and competency to express this knowledge in line with the discourse of science. However, some of the teacher’s choices appeared to be a hindrance for the students.

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• Kunskapsutveckling genom ämnesspråk

  2022. Kristina Danielsson, Ewa Bergh Nestlog. Didaktikens språk, 87-102

  Chapter

  Elever på alla skolans stadier och studenter i högre utbildning rör sig mellan olika ämnen med olika innehållsligt fokus. Denna rörelse blir också en förflyttning mellan olika språkliga världar: ämnenas olika praktiker innebär att vi ”vill” olika saker med språket i dessa olika ämnesvärldar. I kapitlet presenterar vi begreppet ämneslitteracitet närmare. Vi gör det utifrån en vidgad syn på språk, där vi utöver verbalt språk (tal och skrift) inkluderar sådant som hur bilder och andra resurser används på ämnesspecifika sätt. Teoretiskt bygger kapitlet på socialsemiotik, vilket är en funktionell syn på språk och språkande som här också innefattar ett multimodalt perspektiv på språk och interaktion (Halliday, 1978; Kress, 2010). Vi presenterar också ett par didaktiska modeller som lärare kan använda för att dels själva få syn på ämnets språk, dels arbeta på sätt som ger elever möjlighet att utveckla ämneslitteracitet parallellt med sitt ämneskunnande.

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• Primary Pupils’ Multimodal Representations in Worksheets—Text Work in Science Education

  2022. Fredrik Jeppsson (et al.). Education Sciences 12 (3), 221-221

  Article

  Worksheets are common in science classrooms with an aim to support pupils’ meaning-making, e.g., for guiding them in performing hands-on activities and documenting their experiences of such activities. Yet, there have been few systematic studies of pupils’ disciplinary representations in worksheets. Drawing on systemic functional linguistics, we have analyzed fifth grade pupils’ (age 10–11) multimodal texts in worksheets (n = 25) when they were working with shadow formation as part of their regular classroom activities. In the worksheets they were asked to first explain in writing why or why not a shadow was formed and then explain shadow formation through a drawing. At an overall level, we found that a majority of the pupils managed to express in writing why a shadow is formed, though it appeared to be more challenging for them to explain why a shadow is not formed. In their drawings, quite a few pupils managed to include several key aspects of shadow formation, at least when combining image with writing. For all tasks, the explanatory parts of the pupils’ responses were often implicit. Based on our results, we suggest that pupils may benefit from teaching practices that integrate a parallel focus on form and content as a way to raise their awareness of, for instance, the affordances of different resources and how explanations can be structured. Such practices may support pupils to be able to consider and choose appropriate resources in their disciplinary texts.

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• Analysing Multimodal Texts in Science—a Social Semiotic Perspective

  2021. Hanna Wanselin, Kristina Danielsson, Susanne Wikman. Research in science education

  Article

  Teaching and learning in science disciplines are dependent on multimodal communication. Earlier research implies that students may be challenged when trying to interpret and use different semiotic resources. There have been calls for extensive frameworks that enable analysis of multimodal texts in science education. In this study, we combine analytical tools deriving from social semiotics, including systemic functional linguistics (SFL), where the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions are central. In regard to other modes than writing—and to analyse how textual resources are combined—we build on aspects highlighted in research on multimodality. The aim of this study is to uncover how such a framework can provide researchers and teachers with insights into the ways in which various aspects of the content in multimodal texts are communicated through different semiotic resources. Furthermore, we aim to explore how different text resources interact and, finally, how the students, or authors of teaching resources, position themselves in relation to the subject. Data consist of one student text and one teaching resource text, both comprising drawn and written elements in combination with symbols. Our analyses of the student text suggest that the proposed framework can provide insights into students’ content knowledge and, hence, how construction of multimodal texts may be a useful tool for formative assessment. When it comes to teaching resources, the framework may be a useful tool for teachers when choosing resources, particularly in relation to students’ possibilities of meaning making when engaging with such texts, but also, as a basis for classroom discussions.

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• Multimodal texts in disciplinary education

  2021. Kristina Danielsson, Staffan Selander.

  Book

  This open access book provides an introduction to multimodality and the role of multimodal texts in today’s education. Presenting a comprehensive framework for analysing and working with multimodal texts in disciplinary education, it serves as a tool for researchers and teachers alike. The second part of the book focuses on sample analyses of a variety of educational texts for different age groups and from different disciplines, including games and online resources. The authors also comment on the specific challenges of each text, and how teachers can discuss such texts with their students to enhance both their understanding of the content and their multimodal literacy. The book is intended for researchers in fields like education and multimodal studies, and for teacher educators, regardless of school subject or age group. With the combined perspectives on text analysis and implications for education, the book addresses the needs of teachers who want to work with multimodal aspects of texts in education in informed ways, but lack the right tools for such work.

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• 'Traveling nutrients'

  2020. Alma Jahic Pettersson, Kristina Danielsson, Carl-Johan Rundgren. International Journal of Science Education 41 (8), 1281-1301

  Article

  Previous research suggests that students use metaphors when asked to explain digestive processes and nutritional uptake. In this paper, we describe the results of a study designed to gain a deeper understanding of how metaphors and anthropomorphisms are used by students when describing such processes. We applied analyses based on the systemic-functional grammar framework to 123 student responses to a question about nutrition on a Swedish national test in biology in order to identify, describe and analyse how students use metaphors and to understand the linguistic structure of those metaphors. We also considered how the metaphors are linked to metaphor systems and anthropomorphisms, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of the role of metaphors in this area. The results of our analyses provide important insights into how students understand digestion and nutrition and could provide the basis for improved teaching materials and methods for these important topics.

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• Animerad kemi

  2020. Magnus Hultén (et al.).

  Book

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• Resolving puzzling phenomena by the simple particle model: examining thematic patterns of multimodal learning and teaching

  2020. Maurice M. W. Cheng, Kristina Danielsson, Angel M. Y. Lin. Learning: Research and Practice 6 (1), 70-87

  Article

  This paper examines the roles of multimodality and thematic patterns in the teaching of the particle model of matter. Although the particle model is a fundamental topic in science education, there is no consensus on (1) whether or not the model should be introduced in early grades and (2) how to introduce the model to students for the very first time. Drawing from teacher development projects in Sweden (Grade 3) and in Hong Kong (Grade 7), we suggest that the learning and teaching of the particle model can be facilitated by utilising a variety of modes. With multimodal scaffolding, Grade 3 students were able to demonstrate aspects of the particle model related to the expansion of gases in a warmer environment. The paper illustrates teaching episodes from the two projects in terms of (i) aspects of the particle model that were constructed using different semiotic modes, (ii) shifts in the salience of different modes in the teaching and learning process, and (iii) a thematic pattern that the classroom interactions adopted to explain puzzling phenomena. For a theoretical advancement, we suggest that thematic analysis should be extended to multimodal interactions.

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• Textskapande i grundskolan - utveckla funktionella skrivpraktiker

  2020. Ewa Bergh Nestlog, Kristina Danielsson.

  Book

  Att utveckla elevers förmåga att skapa texter är ett område som av tradition kopplas till svenskämnet. Samtidigt vet vi att elever skapar olika former av text i de flesta av skolans ämnen. Forskning har också visat att elever utvecklar såväl förmågan att skapa funktionella texter som ämneskunskaper genom att få arbeta med text i skolans olika ämnen på ett meningsfullt sätt.

  Textskapande i grundskolan beskriver ett perspektiv på textskapande som har fokus på texters funktion. I boken visar författarna hur textundervisningen kan organiseras i klassrummet och hur läraren kan stötta eleverna i arbetsprocessen. Med hjälp av tankar och modeller som utgår från forskning och beprövad erfarenhet presenterar de förhållningssätt som låter lärare skapa en funktionell skrivundervisning tillsammans med sina elever. En sådan undervisning är inriktad på elevernas möjlighet att kommunicera erfarenheter i de texter som de skapar och därmed utveckla sin identitet som kunnig.

  Boken riktar sig till såväl studenter inom lärarutbildningen som till lärare i grundskolans olika årskurser och ämnen.

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• Modes and meaning in the classroom – The role of different semiotic resources to convey meaning in science classrooms

  2016. Kristina Danielsson. Linguistics and Education 35, 88-99

  Article

  This study is framed within social semiotic perspectives on multimodality, and it has a twofold aim. The primary aim is to analyze the ways in which teachers draw on different semiotic resources when introducing a new scientific concept in secondary school science classrooms, and to link the results to modal affordance. A secondary aim is to try out parallel analyses of different modes in multimodal meaning making using the ideational meta-function of the SFL framework. Analyses are based on instructional episodes when chemistry teachers introduced the atom as a scientific phenomenon. The main focus of the analyses is on processes used in different modes and how these depict the atom as either static or dynamic. The framework proved fruitful, and analyses revealed important patterns as to what aspects of the atom were given through what mode(s), something which could partly be linked to modal affordance. The results are discussed in relation to its implications for research and education.

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• Reading Multimodal Texts for Learning – a Model for Cultivating Multimodal Literacy

  2016. Kristina Danielsson, Staffan Selander. Designs for Learning 8 (1), 25-36

  Article

  The re-conceptualisation of texts over the last 20 years, as well as the development of a multimodal understanding of communication and representation of knowledge, has profound consequences for the reading and understanding of multimodal texts, not least in educational contexts. However, if teachers and students are given tools to “unwrap” multimodal texts, they can develop a deeper understanding of texts, information structures, and the textual organisation of knowledge. This article presents a model for working with multimodal texts in education with the intention to highlight mutual multimodal text analysis in relation to the subject content. Examples are taken from a Singaporean science textbook as well as a Chilean science textbook, in order to demonstrate that the framework is versatile and applicable across different cultural contexts.

  The model takes into account the following aspects of texts: the general structure, how different semiotic resources operate, the ways in which different resources are combined (including coherence), the use of figurative language, and explicit/implicit values. Since learning operates on different dimensions – such as social and affective dimensions besides the cognitive ones – our inclusion of figurative language and values as components for textual analysis is a contribution to multimodal text analysis for learning.

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• Se texten! multimodala texter i ämnesdidaktiskt arbete

  2014. Kristina Danielsson, Staffan Selander.

  Book

  Bokens första del ger en introduktion till multimodalitet och hur texter kan representera kunskap på olika sätt. Här presenteras också en modell för analys av multimodala texter och didaktiska implikationer för arbete med sådana texter presenteras.  I bokens andra del görs närläsningar och exempelanalyser av pappersbaserade och digitala pedagogiska texter i olika ämnen och för olika åldrar. 

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• Young Pupils’ Joint Creation of Multimodal Fairy Tales Using Analogue and Digital Resources

  2023. Marina Wernholm (et al.). Education Sciences 13 (6)

  Article

  The present study aimed to explore ‘what’s happening’ and ‘what’s possible’, when young pupils jointly create multimodal texts in small groups. This was achieved by studying the process when pupils in a grade 2 classroom (i) created handwritten fairy tales, (ii) drew images, and then, (iii) transformed them into animated multimodal texts using a digital application during three small-group activities. Data comprises video recordings, pupils’ multimodal texts (writing and drawings), teaching materials, and lesson plans. This qualitative case study focuses on one group of three pupils aged 8–9. The study is theoretically grounded in the designs for learning perspective, with the Learning Design Sequence Model utilized as an analytical tool. The teacher’s design for learning—including her planned activities and the resources made available to the pupils—appeared to have a major impact on what happens and what becomes possible for the pupils in their design for learning. The teacher’s design also influenced what competencies the pupils could (and chose) to draw upon in the different activities. An important result was that the pupils positioned themselves and each other in quite different ways during the small-group activities, which partly could be explained by the different affordances of the resources provided, as well as the teacher’s design. The detailed descriptions of how the pupils’ positioning changed in relation to the teacher’s design for learning and the available resources add valuable knowledge to the field of educational research.

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Show all publications by Kristina Danielsson at Stockholm University