What Makes the Difference? : Teachers Explore What Must be Taught and What Must be Learned in Order to Understand the Particulate Character of Matter

The concept of matter, especially its pariculate nature, is acknowledged as being one of the key concepts areas in learning science. Within the framework of learning studies and variation theory, and with results from science education research as a starting point, six lower secondary school science teachers tried to enhance students´learning by exploring what must be learnt in order to understand the concept in a specific way. It was found that variation theory was a useful guiding principle when teachers are engaged in pedagogical design, analysis of lessons, and evaluation of studenta learning, as well as a valuable tool for adapting research results into practice.Validerad; 2014; 20141006 (anvi