04 November 2021

Seven research projects at LiU have been awarded grants in the Swedish Research Council’s annual funding round for educational sciences. The projects range from heroes wearing tights in the classroom to background noise and bullying.

Children in classroom.

For the years 2021–2025, the Swedish Research Council will distribute SEK 181 million to the educational sciences. Of this, SEK 26.3 million will go to Linköping University. Only the University of Gothenburg will receive more – close to SEK 32 million.

Five researchers at Linköping University will receive project funding. Peter Frejd at the Department of Mathematics (MAI): approx. SEK 6 million for “Mathematics teaching in vocational programmes: The importance of context in pupil motivation and performance”. Bengt-Göran Martinsson at the Department of Culture and Society (IKOS): SEK 4.1 million for “New wine in old bottles or old wine in new bottles? The establishment of the multidisciplinary field of didactics of the mother tongue school subject (Swedish)”.

Three of the grant recipients work at the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL). Robert Thornberg is to receive SEK 5.7 million for a project on relationships between the social climate at school, in the classroom and the class, as well as on abuse, bullying and pupils’ study engagement over time. Michaela Socher has been granted approx. SEK 5.5 million for the project “The effect of background noise on language comprehension by school children: the significance of sound types and individual differences”.

Robert Aman is to receive approx. SEK 3.4 million for “Classroom heroes in tights – using comics for norm-critical discussions in school”.

In addition to the project grants, Helene Elvstrand from IBL is to receive approx. SEK 1.2 million in network funding for network-building for education in after-school centres, and Jonas Bergman Ärlebäck from MAI has been awarded approx. SEK 400,000 for the project “The use of Fermi problems as a method for increasing pupils’ and education students’ intercultural awareness in the mathematics classroom”.


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