This article presents a qualitative study focusing school science in two vocational classes, upper secondary school, Norway. The fact that many vocational students find little meaning in school science forms the backdrop. The students were introduced to teaching combining an excursion to a district heating plant and classroom lessons, with the use of mobile phones for documentation. Thematic analysis is used to explore the students’ experiences by analysing their behaviour and utterances. A multimodal semiotic analysis is used to examine the students' digital stories. By offering the students teaching in a real life vocational facility, we found that the students engaged in the related school science subject matter. They do perceive the use of phones for documentation as personal authentic and relevant working method. The learning potential arising when the mobile learning bridged the two learning venues overshadowed the possible pitfalls of using smartphones.

Fra flere hold blir innholdet i fellesfagene trukket fram som en årsak til dårlig motiverte elever og frafall i yrkesopplæringen. Forskriften til opplæringsloven stiller eksplisitte krav til at opplæringen i fellesfagene skal være tilpasset de ulike studieprogrammene. Denne studien stiller spørsmål om hvor stort handlingsrom kompetansemålene i læreplanen i naturfag gir lærere til utforming av relevant og yrkesrettet undervisning for yrkesfagelever. Vi har utviklet en analysemetode egnet til å vurdere om et innholdselement i et kompetansemål 1) vil være relevant for yrkesfagelever ved ulike studieprogram, og 2) mulig å tilpasse til yrkesfagelever ved ulike studieprogram. Vi har funnet at kompetansemålene i læreplanen i naturfag setter opp et relativt begrenset handlingsrom med tanke på utforming av relevant og yrkesrettet undervisning for yrkesfagelever. For å realisere kravet om at opplæringen i naturfag skal være tilpasset de ulike studieprogrammene mener vi at det må legges bedre til rette for dette i fremtidige læreplaner. På bakgrunn av funn i denne studien ser vi et behov for ytterligere forskning på yrkesfagelevers opplevelse av relevans i naturfag.Nøkkelord: læreplananalyse, naturfag, yrkesfag, relevans, yrkesretting, yrkesfagelever School science for vocational students: Is there scope for action in the curriculum to design relevant teaching adapted to the various vocational programs?AbstractFrom several sources, the curriculum in the common core subjects is accentuated as a reason for poorly motivated students and dropouts in upper secondary vocational education in Norway. The Regulation for the Education Act makes explicit demands that the teaching in the common core subjects should be adapted to the various vocational programs. This study questions the scope for action in the school science curriculum to create teaching for vocational students that is relevant and adapted to the various vocational programmes. We have developed an analytical method suitable for detecting if a content item in a competence aim 1) will be relevant for vocational students in the different vocational programs, and 2) is possible to adapt to vocational students in the different vocational programs. We have found that the competence aims in the school science curriculum establish a relatively limited scope for actopn in regards to designing relevant teaching, adapted to vocational students. In order to realize the requirement for adaption to the various vocational programs, we claim that this should be facilitated in future school science curricula. Based on findings in this study, we see a need for further research on vocational students and their experience of relevance in school science.Keywords: curriculum analysis, school science, vocational education, relevance, adaptation to vocational education

In this design-based study we have examined students’ encounters with a computer game, Energispillet.no, in school. How do students deal with complex issues related to energy and environment in a digital simulation-based video game? How does the meetings between the gaming arena and the school arena unfold? The study was conducted in a vocational class (electricity), two groups with respectively 3 and 4 pupils. We have analyzed spoken and written student texts with selected elements from Halliday’s systemic functional grammar. In our material, we saw two different encounters between the gaming arena and the school arena. One group that predominantly interpreted Energispillet in a gaming frame and one group that drew on working methods associated with both gaming- and school arena. In the game the students encounter “texts” that do not convey facts or certain knowledge, but on the contrary entrusts the players to do their own considerations. Based on their own values ​​and attitudes students must jointly make use of knowledge from different disciplines such as natural science, social studies, economics and ethics to make ongoing assessments, argue points of view, and make informed choices during gameplay. One group explored the game extremely and one-sided and reflected on the complex issues in the game once they left the game world. The other group did more joint reflection, both during and after gaming.

The curriculum in school science for vocational students has three different purposes: 1) prepare the students for later participation in society and coping with everyday life; 2) qualify the students for further studies; and 3) offer the students school science adapted to the various vocational programs. This study examines what influence two teachers' choices when designing science teaching for vocational students. The research approach is action research conducted by two teachers and a researcher. Audio files from weekly meetings throughout one-year forms the data. Based on findings, the article discuss if the current curriculum in school science offers the teachers enough scope for action to adapt the teaching to various vocational programs.