About “Jenny Hellgren”

Teacher and researcher in science education, with focus on motivation, scientific writing and that science education should be accessible and meaningful for everyone.
My research and my teaching are both based on the premise that people are fundamentally curious and eager to learn new things, and that the natural sciences provide an excellent context for this. Observation, exploration, and the ability to engage in reasoning and argumentation are essential skills in both education and in life. My work has several tracks and there are some recurring themes. The first is motivation, the understanding that motivation is the foundation for learning, and that knowledge about motivation is a crucial part of teacher education and pedagogical knowledge. The second is that learning occurs in interaction with others, not only within school but also in encounters with, for example, researchers and society, which provide relevance and authenticity to the scientific knowledge. The third is the importance of argumentation, that learning goes beyond understanding, and is deepened by the ability to express oneself to others. Lastly, subject didactics, and particularly how learning in the natural sciences interacts with other disciplines.
My teaching is described under a separate tab, and below I briefly describe some of the projects I am working on or have worked on.
I hold doctoral degrees in Educational Work (Umeå University, 2016) and Plant Physiology (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2003).