Archives

• Nordidactica 2026:1 “Den andre” i religionsdidaktik

  Vol. 16 No. 2026:1 (2026)

  Nordidactica 2026:1 is a Special Issue about the Other in Religious Education. The starting point for the issue was a conference in Karlstad in June 2024. Some of the papers and presentations from the conference have after that developed into peer reviewed articles, and seven of those are now ready to be published in this issue. Themes in the articles focuses on how "the other" is constructed in different kinds of material and practices, from educational films through talks in the classroom and to Religious Education in Social Science.

   

• Nordidactica 2025:3

  Vol. 15 No. 2025:3 (2025)

  Ämnesdidaktisk forskning rör sig ständigt mellan allmänna principer och ämnesspecifika tillämpningar. Frågan om vad som utgör kraftfull kunskap i ett visst ämne hänger samman med frågor om hur undervisning kan designas, vilka förutsättningar lärare och elever bär med sig, och vad som faktiskt sker i klassrummets praktik. I detta nummer möts dessa perspektiv på ett särskilt tydligt sätt. Artiklarna rör sig kring kritiskt tänkande och perspektivutvärdering, blivande lärares förförståelse av sina ämnen, historiens moraliska tyngd i elevers ögon, samt digitaliseringens faktiska (eller uteblivna) avtryck i klassrumspraktiken. Nedan presenteras numrets fem artiklar.

  Anja Thorsten, Alexander Wensby, Rebecca Holmberg och Karin Malmqvist vid Linköpings universitet öppnar numret med “Teaching critical thinking in psychology—focusing on evaluating different psychological perspectives”. Genom en Learning Study med gymnasieelever identifierar de fyra kritiska aspekter för att utveckla kritiskt tänkande i psykologi. Studien visar att noggrant konstruerade kontraster förbättrar elevers förmåga att skilja mellan att beskriva ett perspektiv och att utvärdera det.

  Frågan om förförståelse återkommer i Rebecka Florin Sädboms och Joakim Öbergs studie från Jönköping University: “Intressant, relevant och medborgarbildande!” Ämneslärarstudenter i samhällskunskap om sitt ämne när de påbörjar sina studier. Genom enkäter till fem årskullar kartlägger de vad blivande samhällskunskapslärare vet om sitt ämne. Resultaten visar att majoriteten har en “lexikalisk” ämnessyn där samhällskunskap definieras som kunskap om samhället; grundläggande, men inte särskilt djup.

  Från blivande lärares förförståelse rör vi oss till elevers perspektiv på historia. Cathrine Sjölund Åhsberg och Olof Franck vid Göteborgs universitet fördjupar i “A Sense of the Moral Weight of the Past”: Framing Ethical and Affective Significance in Relation to Swedish Middle-School Students and Historical Empathy” begreppen etisk och affektiv signifikans genom fokusgrupper med elever i årskurs 6. Eleverna uttrycker starkt moraliskt engagemang kring historiska orättvisor som rasism och kolonialism, ofta historia de mött utanför skolan. Tre teman framträder: rättvisa, ansvar och skuld.

  Mikael Bruér vid Malmö universitet frågar i “Blir det Kahoot? Svenska historielärares arbete med digital teknik” hur svenska historielärare som beskriver sig som digitalt orienterade faktiskt använder digital teknik. Genom klassrumsobservationer av sex lärare visar studien att undervisningen domineras av traditionella metoder med fokus på faktaförmedling.

  Liknande mönster framträder i Dag Øivind Østerengs studie “Religious Education in Transit - Teachers’ Experience of Digital Transition in Teaching Religion and Worldviews: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach” från NLA University College i Norge. Med interpretativ fenomenologisk analys undersöker han norska lärares erfarenheter av digitala läromedel i KRLE-undervisning. Det centrala fyndet är upplevelsen av att vara “i transit”, i en övergångsfas mellan traditionell och digital praktik.

  Tillsammans belyser numrets artiklar från olika håll en gemensam problematik: hur undervisning kan överbrygga avståndet mellan elevers utgångspunkter och ämnenas specifika sätt att tänka. De pekar mot behovet av en ämnesdidaktik som tar förförståelser på allvar, som utvecklar redskap för att synliggöra vad elever behöver urskilja, och som förhåller sig kritiskt till antagandet att ny teknik automatiskt leder till förnyad undervisning.

  Vi välkomnar bidrag som prövar nya teorier, metoder och empiriska fält och fördjupar den nordiska skol- och högskolepraktiken! Vi vill även särskilt uppmuntra er att inkomma med reviews och konferensrapporter; det händer mycket i våra fält, och det är viktigt att sprida.

• Nordidactica 2025:2 Forskning om nationella prov i samhällsorienterande ämnen – några aktuella exempel

  Vol. 15 No. 2025:2 (2025)

  National tests i Social Science Subjects were introduced in Swedish schools in 2013. Together with an ongoing debate about the form and role of these national tests they have also been studied in academic research. In Nordidactica 2025:2 there are four articles with an subject didactic approach to the national tests published.

• Nordidactica 2025:1

  Vol. 15 No. 2025:1 (2025)

  Nummer 2025:1 belyser, från olika infallsvinklar, hur didaktiska val får konsekvenser för elevers möjligheter att orientera sig i samtidens komplexa frågor. Artiklarna spänner från skolfrånvarons betydelse för undervisningsinnehåll till hur klimatkris, könsnormer och ämnesspråk utmanar traditionella sätt att planera, genomföra och analysera undervisning. Tillsammans visar artiklarna hur skärpta begrepp och medvetna metodval driver ämnes­didaktiken framåt.

   

• Nordidactica 2024:3

  Vol. 14 No. 2024:3 (2024)

  The third issue of Nordidactica in 2024 is perhaps smaller in number of articles than other issues this year, but it has a bigger significance for us, because through it we are saying farewell to our two-year period as editors of the journal. The current issue focuses explicitly on history education. In the research design of Anders Persson and Mikael Berg, Nordidactica is treated as a significant platform of Nordic research on history education. They conducted a longitudinal study of Nordidactica’s history exploring how history didactics articles have used theory in 2011–2022. Their analysis leads to discussion on whether educational research should strive for a balance between approaches that justify theories and generate them. 

  The article by Yngve Skjæveland, Birger Andreas Marthinsen and Linn Maria Magerøy-Grande is very near to the lived realities of history education as it is based on an action research project in an upper secondary school in Norway. It follows upper secondary school students making sense of historical secondary sources. 

  Alexandre Dessingué has also worked on Norwegian upper secondary students’ relationship to history. When exploring their perception of and interest in history he found four types of chronotopes behind the connection they made with history: chronotope of actualisation, chronotope of distanciation, chronotope of anticipation and chronotope of disconnection.

  Johannes Heuman’s contribution takes us to theoretically review emotions in history education, but also to the past as he illustrates his theoretical model through examples from Swedish upper secondary history education in the 1860s. He argues that history didactics would benefit from discussions concerning emotions in historical research. 

   

• Nordidactica 2024:2

  Vol. 14 No. 2024:2 (2024)

  It is our pleasure to welcome you to the latest issue of Nordidactica 2:2024. As the journal home page (https://journals.lub.lu.se/nordidactica/index) describes: “Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education is a Nordic subject didactic journal with the aim to be a venue for research relevant to school, teacher education and to academy”. For the past fourteen years the journal has served that purpose and continues to do so. The present issue focuses on different aspects of subject didactics, often from political and social awareness perspectives.

   

• Nordidactica 2024:1

  Vol. 14 No. 2024:1 (2024)

  Welcome to the newest issue of Nordidactica, in which we launch the first quarter of 2024 with the Nordidactica mission firmly in sight: to provide a platform for scientific discussion within geography, history, social studies and religious education. It is especially illuminating to see how these four subjects share similar perspectives and theoretical approaches, yet also differ from each other in enlightening respects. 

   

   

   

• Nordidactica 2023:4

  Vol. 13 No. 2023:4 (2023)

  This issue presents seven fresh studies on the didactics of social science subjects.

  In the first article Jonas Henau Teglbjærg focuses on classroom discussions in Danish social science lessons.

  The second article by Tanja Kohvakka seeks to examine how history textbooks have portrayed minorities in Finland and the nation’s colonial past.

  The third article by Sebastian Tjelle Jarmer focuses on the themes of democracy and citizenship education.

  In the fourth article Simon Simchai Hansen and Knut Aukland report a design-based intervention in moral education that aimed to enhance 11-13 year old Norwegian students’ ethical competence.

  The fifth article focuses on a similar theme, ethics, although with a completely different approach. In the article, Jon Magne Vestøl reports a review study of articles from the Journal of Moral Education.

  The sixth article by Christina Ruth and Tomas Hanell offers insight on matriculation examinations in Finland in Geography.

  The seventh article by Katarina Kärnebro concludes the issue. She presents results from a discourse analysis of teachers’ talk about their teaching in relation to children’s existential questions.

   

   

   

• Nordidactica 2023:3

  Vol. 13 No. 2023:3 (2023)

  This is the third issue of Nordidactica - Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education - in 2023 (vol 13), and our first issue as its Editors.

  The present volume consists of seven articles and one debate article. The first two articles of the issue spring from recent curriculum reforms. The next four articles provide insights into subject education in the intersection of democracy education, critical thinking and civic education.

• Nordidactica 2023:2

  Vol. 13 No. 2023:2 (2023)

  Nordidactica 2023:2 Critical thinking in Nordic Social Studies

  This thematical issue holds six articles with empirical material from different levels of education in Norway and Sweden. Teaching in and about civics, history, geography and sustainability are analysed and discussed. A coomon theme in the articles is perspective taking.

• Nordidactica 2023:1 Jubileum

  Vol. 13 No. 2023:1 Jubileum (2023)

  Jubileum - fokus på ämnesutveckling i samhällsvetenskap, samhällskunskap och historia i Norden

  Nordicatica fyller 12 år och det manifesteras med föreliggande jubileumsnummer! Efter 37 nummer och 218  artiklar summerar vi vår verksamhet med ett fullmatat nummer. I den inledande editorial-texten sammanfattas tidskriftens tema och verksamhet sedan starten 2011.  I  Heidi Eskelund Knudsens & Harry Haues artikel Historieundervisning i Danmark – epokale tendenser, kontinuitet og forandring i lærebøger og læremidler analyseras och diskuteras historieundervisningens utveckling i Danmark framförallt via läromedel av olika slag. Sedan följer kommentarer av Sirkka Ahonen,  Niklas Ammert & Fredrik Alvén som ger ett finskt och svenskt perspektiv på den danska utvecklingen. I artikeln Samfundsfag i Danmark - et overblik behandlar Torben Spanget Christensen  karaktären på samfundsfaget i Danmark under de senaste 100 åren. Politiska beslut, utvärderingar och läromedel utgör underlag för artikeln. Kommentarer från Tom Gullberg, Kjetil Børhaug, Anna Larsson & Kristina Ledman, ger ett nordiskt perspektiv på ämnet.  Slutligen redogör Johan Samuelsson för hur det samhällsvetenskapliga perspektivet fick ett eget gymnasieprogram i artikeln Skolan och samhällsvetenskapen - Framväxt och etablering av en svensk gymnasial samhällsvetarutbildning 1922-1970. Samuelsson tittar framförallt på de debatter och utredningar som lade grunden till det reformerade linjesystemet med ett samhällsvetenskapligt program.  Jan Löfström pekar på likheter och skillnader mellan Sverige och Finland gällande samhällsvetenskap och skola i sin kommentar.  Det är alltså ett jubileumsnummer med representation från hela Norden och flera ämnen; helt i linje med tidskriftens ambition!

• Nordidactica 2022:4

  Vol. 12 No. 2022:4 (2022)

  Nordidactica 2022:4 has seven articles. Writers from Norway, Finland and Sweden writes about both contens and methods. Some articles are subject specific and some are more thematic regarding for example social justice and citizenship.

  This is also the last issue with Heidi Eskelund Knudsen and Anders Stig Christensen as editors. The next two years will have Anuleena Kimanen from University of Turku and Martin Ubangi from University of Eastern Finland as editors.

• Nordidactica 2022:3

  Vol. 12 No. 2022:3 (2022)

  Nordidactica 2022:3 holds nine articles. The articles and the writers represents all subjects in Noridactica's scope and all Nordic countries. The presented research aims to develop the subject didactics, in both theoretical and empirical ways. Severeal of the articles uses concepts from other but useful subjects which creates new thoughts in their own subjects. 

• Nordidactica 2022:2

  Vol. 12 No. 2022:2 (2022)

  Teaching and learning ethics in the Humanities and Social Science school subjects

  In some of the Nordic countries, there is a school subject where discussions on ethical questions are central in the curriculum. For example, the subject that in Finnish schools since the 1980’s is the alternative to the non-confessional subject Religion is named ‘Secular Ethics’. Obviously, school subjects like ‘kristendomskundskab’ in Denmark, ‘religionskunskap’ in Sweden, and ‘religion og livssynsfag’ in Norway are subjects where ethical questions are as if by definition in the curriculum. The same applies also to the subject Philosophy. However, educational aims connected with development of the students’ moral judgment and processing of ethical issues can be present also in school subjects such as History, Biology, Economics, and Drama.

  For this issue of Nordidactica, contributions were invited that focus on teaching and learning ethics in the school subjects History, Social Studies, Religious Education, Geography and Philosophy, and in cross-disciplinary settings that these subjects are part of. The contributions could be theoretical, empirical, or methodological. The invitation resulted in the following five articles that we are delighted to present.

  Carla Nielsen's article, “Preparatory remarks concerning an 'existence didactics' in ethics education in the subject Christianity (Kristendomskundskab) in the Danish primary and lower secondary school”, deals with the existential perspective of the Christianity curriculum in Denmark. In their article, “Students’ performance in ethics assignments in the Finnish Matriculation Examination 2017–2021”, Mika Perälä and Eero Salmenkivi discuss Finnish students’ knowledge in metaethics and normative ethics. The article “Ethics as intended, actualized and evaluated content in the subject Christianity/Religion in teacher education”, by Hanne Fie Rasmussen, Julie Nørgaard and Pernille Julie Östergaard Nielsen, discusses ethics as incorporated in other subjects in the Danish teacher education programme. In her article Maren Lytje discusses what knowledge content to use in order to support democratic education in History teaching. The paper “Fiction-based ethics education in Swedish compulsory school – reflections on a research project”, by Karin Sporre, Christina Osbeck, Annika Lilja, David Lifmark, Olof Franck and Anna Lyngfelt, takes its starting point in a research project on fiction-based ethics education. 

• Nordidactica 2022:1

  Vol. 12 No. 2022:1 (2022)

  Nordidactica 2022:1 holds four articles. Even though this is not  theme issue, all four articles are about Religious Education. The articles research focus are curriculum issues in Denmark and Sweden now and historically, how the subject is understood and the relationship betwwen the subject in school and university. The articles shows subject didactics as interested in the dynamic dimensions of it's subjects as well as it's relationship to something lasting over time.

• Nordidactica 2021:3

  Vol. 11 No. 2021:3 (2021)

  The Nordidactica 2021:3 issue has a wide range: a discussion about the new civics curicullum in Norway, Swedish history teachers view about knowledge, how christianity is presented in school books, the concept of religion in different Swedish curicullums and a comment regarding the revised curicullum in Swedish religious education.

  Together the articles in this issue shows that the school subjects in social science education together with the society itself is in a ongoing development, and that qualitative discussions about these changes are needed.

• Nordidactica 2021:2

  Vol. 11 No. 2021:2 (2021)

  Nordidactica 2021:2 has four scientific peer reviewed articles. Three of the articles contains studies of civics teaching in Sweden, but with a variety of methods and focus. The role of emotions, pupils understanding of events and reports concerning news and the similarities and differences in teaching the subject of civics are the main focuses in the respective article. The issue also holds an article about oral examination in history and english in Denmark.

• Nordidactica 2021:1

  Vol. 11 No. 2021:1 (2021)

  The first Nordidactica Issue of 2021 holds seven articles - five scientific peer reviewed and to discussions. This is the first issue with the two new editors from UCL Odense in Denmark. 

  The articles have several perspectives on subject didactics in civics, history and religious education: contorversial issues in classrooms, attitudes towards equality among youths, the meaning of structured writing in history, gaming as a didactic tool and development of teaching processes in religious education.

• Nordidactica 2020:4

  Vol. 10 No. 2020:4 (2020)

  Nordidactica 2020:4 contains six articles regarding both subject specific didactisc issues and more general social science didactics. Among the subject specific articles we are happy to see that two of them focuses on geography didactics.

  This issue also introduces debate as a theme for articles in Nordidactica with two texts that adresses a former article by Lindstrom.

• Nordidactica 2020:3

  Vol. 10 No. 2020:3 (2020)

  This issue, Nordidactica 2020:3, contains six articles with big range of different subjects and different grade of theoretical level. The writers represent four of the Nordic countries and all but one of the articles are written in a Nordic language. Two issues each year are supposed to be open without any spcific themes, and we are happy to see proof of the many perspectives and themes that are subject for research in Social Science Education in the Nordic countries. The fact that 2020 is the 10:th year of Nordiactica (look out for jubilee issue and jubilee articles in 2021) makes time for reflection and the articles in this issue shows that Nordidactia has become an important arena for Social Science subject didactics on a Nordic cooperative level.

• Nordidactica 2020:2

  Vol. 10 No. 2020:2 (2020)

  Nordidactica 2020:2 contains seven papers written by researchers from Norway and Sweden. Two papers are directly related to the special theme for this issue, namely the double mission for social studies that includes both democratic socialisation and critical scientific views. Five articles are more traditional subject didactics with two of them looking att the early years in swedisch schools.

• Nordidactica 2020:1

  Vol. 10 No. 2020:1 (2020)

  This issue contains eight research papers written by 14 researchers at eight different universities in Sweden, Noway and Finland. The breadth of subjects in wide, and this time the emphasis is on civics. This issue contains both theory-driven papers at the intersection of theory of science and subject didactics, as well as studies that mainly focus  on concret activities of teaching and learning. This kind of breadth is appreciated by a scientific journal within our disciplines.

• Nordidactica 2019:4

  Vol. 9 No. 2019:4 (2019)

  The fourth issue of Nordidactica 2019 is a special issue focusing on core elements and Big Ideas. It contains six contributions: four scientific articles and two position papers. All the articles – with one Norwegian exemption - are written in English – hence this English version of the Editorial. This can be explained by the fact that the English texts are based on contributions presented during the NCRE (Nordic Conference of Religious Education) 2019 where the theme was "Core elements and big ideas for religious education ». The conference was organized by NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) 10-14. June 2019. The scientific articles are written by a total of six authors; four women and two men working at institutions in Denmark, England and Norway. The two position papers are written by a woman and a man, both of whom connected to institutions in England.

• Nordidactica 2019:3

  Vol. 9 No. 2019:3 (2019)

  This special issue focuses on comparative subject didactics. Within the field of interest of Nordidactica - subject didactic studies in geography, history, religious education, civics, and political science in the Nordic countries - research is to a high extent framed by the separate subjects. Studies that explicitly investigate two or more subjects are rare. In order to encourage subject compaison, the redactional council of Nordidactica arranged a symposium at the NOFA Conference in 2019. A call for papers with a comparative foucus was also issued on Nordidactica's website. The current issue is the result of that call for papers. After the usual peer review, eight articles that put comparison at the centre are published here.

• Nordidactica 2019:2

  Vol. 9 No. 2019:2 (2019)

   The second issue of Nordidactica 2019 contains  nine peer-reviewed articles and a conference report. In all, 13 different authors contribute to these articles. Of these, eight are female and five are male. The authors belong to institutions in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.