Att stimulera mellanstadieelevers lärande om fotosyntes med hjälp av en gestaltande aktivitet.

Sammanfattning: In this study, we have focused on drama activity in relation to science education by having students participate in a drama activity that focuses on photosynthesis. The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about how teachers can use design in their teaching for students to consolidate knowledge about photosynthesis. To research this, we took inspiration from action research as a research approach. We designed a drama activity based on the theory of Embodied learning where the students got to portray the photosynthesis. This activity was carried out at two schools with a total of 49 students. In this study, we were interested in finding out if the use of drama was successful in terms of developing students’ knowledge about photosynthesis. To identify to what extent the students’ knowledge changed and how their knowledge changed, three identical tests were made. The first test was completed before the drama activity, the second was done after the activity and the third was conducted after a summer break. The three test results were analysed in two ways. The first analysis was deductive and focused on assessment in relation to the understanding of the photosynthesis and requirements inspired from the school curriculum was the tool. The second analysis was thematic and focused on the difference in the answers that the students provided, with the purpose of identifying how the knowledge about photosynthesis changed after they had participated in the drama activity.The results showed that most of the students developed their knowledge of photosynthesis on tests that were close in time to the drama activity, while the smaller number of students showed a progression after a longer time from the drama activity. The results are not surprising and in teaching many activities are used to support students’ learning, not only one single activity. Still, we were interested to find out what kind of effects the drama activity could lead to in terms of stimulating students’ learning and therefore we isolated the teaching situation to only include this activity. We also need to address that the outcomes can depend on how the activity was designed and it is possible that another design could have led to other results.IIIOne conclusion we draw from the results is that drama works differently for different students and that it should not be taken for granted that it automatically leads to better learning for all students. Drama should be seen as the tool and that it is the teacher's use of the tool that determines the student's progression.