Johanna Lönngren | Umeå University (original) (raw)

Papers by Johanna Lönngren

This chapter introduces an emerging body of research exploring relationships between positioning ... more This chapter introduces an emerging body of research exploring relationships between positioning and emotions. First, previous research is described and related to ways in which positioning has been related to emotions: (1) positioning processes can trigger emotions, (2) emotions can function as resources in positioning, (3) persons can be positioned as (un)emotional, (4) positioning theory provides a useful analytic lens for studying emotions, and (5) emotions can provide a useful analytic lens for studying positioning. Second, the concept of emotional positioning is introduced to focus researchers’ analytic attention on the various ways in which positioning is achieved in and through emotions and emotion discourse. Finally, four visions are outlined for future research on emotional positioning, focusing on (I) power issues, (II) multimodal data analysis, (III) integrating research and practice, and (IV) contributions to emotion research. The authors hope that a better understandin...

2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Oct 8, 2022

Both research and practical experience show that teachers have trouble implementing Education for... more Both research and practical experience show that teachers have trouble implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (Bursjöö 2011), especially in engineering education where a culture of value-neutrality and objectivity still seems to prevail (see for example Holmberg et al 2008). Consequently, the integration of ESD into engineerig curricula is often insufficient in respect to requirements set up by the Swedish Higher Education Act: graduates of engineering are expected to possess complex skills connected to ethics and sustainable development (Högskoleförordningen 1993). The purpose of this presentation is to provide a positive example of how these problems have been overcome in a specific engineering program at Lund University. We discuss the introduction of an innovative course by a group of students and faculty without substantive prior expertise or experience in Engineering Education for Sustainable Delopment (EESD). We (some of the course developers/course leaders) use collaborative action research methodology to discuss similarities and differences in teachers' (ours) and students' learning in the process of creating and subsequently improving this specific EESD-intervention. Our analysis is based on personal reflections and focus group discussions by the course developers/course leaders, as well as students' course evaluations from three consecutive years, and EESD litterature. 2. Designing and Implementing a Communicating Science Course for Undergraduate Science Students E Jandciu,

Dagens ingenjorer forvantas i allt hogre grad inneha de komplexa kompetenser om kravs for att dr... more Dagens ingenjorer forvantas i allt hogre grad inneha de komplexa kompetenser om kravs for att driva vara foretag i riktning mot en hallbar utveckling. For att formedla kompetenser sasom langsiktig medvetenhet, kritisk informationshantering och problemlosning med beaktande av manga olika perspektiv har otraditionella undervisningsmetoder sa som fallstudier, rollspel och problembaserat larande visat sig vara framgangsrika. LTH:s vision och verksamhetside fran 2003 uppmanar till ”langsiktiga perspektiv [som] tar hansyn till manniska och miljo” dar ”studenter och anstallda har hog medvetenhet om hur [LTH:s] forskning och utbildning paverkar manniskan i stort och i smatt”. Trots detta finns vid LTH idag fa kurser med otraditionella kursupplagg. Vi beskriver ett studentinitiativ fran varen 2007, som nu resulterat i en innovativ kurs inom amnet hallbar utveckling. Kursen ingar numera i obligatoriet for civilingenjorsprogrammet Teknisk nanovetenskap.

Research in Science Education, Jul 9, 2016

Wicked sustainability problems (WSPs) are an important and particularly challenging type of probl... more Wicked sustainability problems (WSPs) are an important and particularly challenging type of problem. Science and engineering education can play an important role in preparing students to deal with such problems, but current educational practice may not adequately prepare students to do so. We address this gap by providing insights related to students' abilities to address WSPs. Specifically, we aim to (I) describe key constituents of engineering students' approaches to a WSP, (II) evaluate these approaches in relation to the normative context of education for sustainable development (ESD), and (III) identify relevant aspects of learning related to WSPs. Aim I is addressed through a phenomenographic study, while aims II and III are addressed by relating the results to research literature about human problem solving, sustainable development, and ESD. We describe four qualitatively different ways of approaching a specific WSP, as the outcome of the phenomenographic study: A. Simplify and avoid, B. Divide and control, C. Isolate and succumb, and D. Integrate and balance. We identify approach D as the most appropriate approach in the context of ESD, while A and C are not. On this basis, we identify three learning objectives related to students' abilities to address WSPs: learn to use a fully integrative approach, distinguish WSPs from tame and well-structured problems, and understand and consider the normative context of SD. Finally, we provide recommendations for how these learning objectives can be used to guide the design of science and engineering educational activities.

International Handbook of Engineering Education Research, 2023

Contrary to common stereotypes, engineering education and practice are not purely rational activi... more Contrary to common stereotypes, engineering education and practice are not purely rational activities. Emotions, just like cognition, play important roles in teaching, learning, and professional practice. Today, there is a nascent body of research exploring emotions in engineering education (EEE). However, much of the existing research does not adequately theorize emotions, and the range of theories and methods used is still relatively narrow. With this chapter, we hope to inspire more investigators to conduct EEE research and to explore currently underutilized theories, methods, and research foci. This chapter introduces the reader to the multidisciplinary field of emotion research, then focus specifically on EEE research. It describes different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives on emotions, as well as methods and methodologies for EEE research. Finally, the chapter covers dominant themes in the existing EEE literature, outlines important and promising areas for future research, and provides advice for researchers and doctoral students who plan to pursue EEE research.

Towards a new future in engineering education, new scenarios that european alliances of tech universities open up

Capacity building is a corner stone for having well prepared and effective teaching staff in engi... more Capacity building is a corner stone for having well prepared and effective teaching staff in engineering education. Despite the importance of capacity building in engineering education, there is relatively little research on this topic. In this paper, we address this gap by reporting on an international comparative study on capacity building practices in university-level engineering education. We examine how capacity building is organised in seven European institutions (in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, UK) and Australia, based on institutional education policies and practices. We compare the preparation of teaching staff, their initial training, and continuing capacity building activities throughout their careers. To do this, we applied a qualitative approach, collecting data through (1) a structured questionnaire answered by the members of the SEFI SIG on Capacity building and (2) written notes produced during an international workshop on capacity building at ...

Towards a new future in engineering education, new scenarios that european alliances of tech universities open up

Ethics in engineering has long been an important element in engineering programmes, however these... more Ethics in engineering has long been an important element in engineering programmes, however these subjects are often taught at a basic learning level with little attempt to connect to demonstrative learning outcomes. In recent years there has been a step change in the importance of ethics as an integral part of engineering programmes and is reflected in the text of accreditation documents. In this paper we expand our analysis from an earlier study, which focused on four European countries, to understand the role of ethics on a more global scale. We conducted a multi-country analysis on how and where ethics features in accreditation documents in twelve countries across five continents (Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France/Switzerland, Ireland, Japan, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, UK and USA). We identified explicit or implicit references to ethics education, extracted verbs relating to learning outcomes, and compared definitions of key terms. A comparison to Bloom’s taxonomy showed con...

9th Research in Engineering Education Symposium (REES 2021) and 32nd Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference (REES AAEE 2021)

CONTEXT: There is today a broad consensus that emotions influence all forms of teaching and learn... more CONTEXT: There is today a broad consensus that emotions influence all forms of teaching and learning, and scholarship on Emotions in Engineering Education (EEE) is an emerging and rapidly growing field. However, this nascent research is currently very dispersed and not well consolidated. There is also a lack of knowledge about the state of the art, strengths, and limitations of the existing literature in the field, gaps, and future avenues for research. PURPOSE: We have conducted a scoping review of EEE research, aiming to provide a first overview of the EEE scholarship landscape. We report here on preliminary findings related to (1) the status of the field, (2) geographical representation of authors, and (3) emerging hot spots and blind spots in terms of research approaches, contexts, and topics. METHODS: The scoping review is part of a larger, systematic review of the EEE literature. Using an inclusive search strategy, we retrieved 2,175 items mentioning emotions and engineering education, including common synonyms. Through abstract screening and full text sifting, we identified 184 items that significantly focus on engineering education and emotion. From these items, we extracted and synthesized basic quantitative and qualitative information on publication outlets, author origins, keywords, research approaches, and research contexts. PRELIMINARY RESULTS: Surprised by the large number of EEE publications, we found that EEE is a rapidly expanding, but internationally dispersed field. Preliminary results also suggest a dominance of research on higher education, often exploring students’ academic emotions or emotional competences. Research on emotional intelligence and anxiety is particularly common while studies focusing on cultural and sociological aspects of EEE are largely absent. CONCLUSIONS: The EEE literature is expanding exponentially. However, the field is not well consolidated, and many blind spots remain to be explored in terms of research approaches, contexts, and foci. To accelerate the development of the field, we invite current and prospective EEE researchers to join our emerging, international community of EEE researchers

American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, USA, 26-29 June, 2016, 2016

Previous research has shown that many students experience significant challenges as they transiti... more Previous research has shown that many students experience significant challenges as they transition from secondary to higher education and that these challenges often are related to students’ ability to take responsibility for their studies, here called self-responsibility. However, there is no consensus in research or practice regarding how students develop self-responsibility and how teachers can support this development. This presentation contributes to addressing this gap by exploring how students’ self-responsibility is discursively constructed and negotiated in student-teacher interaction in a first-year engineering program in Sweden. An extensive ethnographic data material is analyzed through the lens of positioning theory, with a particular focus on how students’ rights and duties related to their self-responsibility are negotiated. The results show that teachers often confront students with an ideological dilemma: students are positioned as having the duty to take self-resp...

We perform a systematic review of the literature on emotions in engineering education. The review... more We perform a systematic review of the literature on emotions in engineering education. The review is of the type meta-synthesis as described by Siddayway et al (2019) and aims to (1) provide an overview and critical appraisal of the existing literature on emotions in engineering education, and (2) outline directions for future research in this emerging field.

Oxford Ethnography and Education Conference, Oxford, Great Britain, 9-11 September, 2019, 2019

2021, 2021

In this paper, we engage with the question whether problem structure, particularly 'wickedness', ... more In this paper, we engage with the question whether problem structure, particularly 'wickedness', should be approached as something that is inherent in the problem as an essential characteristic versus something that is constructed in practice, as a result of how a problem is approached (presented or experienced). We do so by drawing on (1) a review of literature on wicked problems (WP) and (2) empirical research on engineering students' approaches to WP in the context of sustainability education.

New Developments in Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, 2016

Many of the most pressing sustainability issues are not purely technical problems. To work for su... more Many of the most pressing sustainability issues are not purely technical problems. To work for sustainable development (SD) requires addressing wicked sustainability problems (WSPs), such as climate change, poverty, and resource scarcity. Previous research has shown that addressing WSPs is challenging for engineering students. In particular, students may feel overwhelmed by a WSP if they lack appropriate tools for dealing with the complexity, uncertainty, and value conflicts that are present in the situation. In this paper, we aim to investigate whether systems thinking competence (ST) can provide such a tool in engineering education for sustainable development (EESD). For this purpose, we elaborate on previous descriptions of WSPs, and draw on (E)ESD literature about ST to discuss different approaches to ST and their usefulness for addressing WSPs. We conclude that ST indeed can be valuable for addressing WSPs, but that it is necessary to be clear about how ST is defined. We suggest that mainstream approaches to ST in engineering education (EngE) are not sufficient for addressing WSPs.

Ethnography and Education, 2020

2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Oct 8, 2022

Research in Science Education, Jul 9, 2016

International Handbook of Engineering Education Research, 2023

Towards a new future in engineering education, new scenarios that european alliances of tech universities open up

9th Research in Engineering Education Symposium (REES 2021) and 32nd Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference (REES AAEE 2021)

American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, USA, 26-29 June, 2016, 2016

Oxford Ethnography and Education Conference, Oxford, Great Britain, 9-11 September, 2019, 2019

2021, 2021

New Developments in Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, 2016

Ethnography and Education, 2020

International handbook of engineering education research, 2023

This chapter has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. 1 Introduction Engineers and en... more This chapter has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. 1 Introduction Engineers and engineering students often identify their work as rational, beyond emotion, and engineering is often characterized as purely scientific, involving technical solutions to real-world problems (Cech, 2018; Lönngren, Adawi, et al., 2021; Polmear et al., 2018). However, engineering education and practice are embedded in contexts with complex social relationships, power structures, and conflicting value systems (Cech, 2018). Dealing with engineering problems in these contexts requires knowledge and competencies to collaboratively explore diverse perspectives on a problem and develop socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable technological solutions (Holmén, 2020; Lönngren et al., 2016; Van den Beemt et al., 2020). Engineering education researchers have, for example, demonstrated how emotions matter in engineering ethics and sustainability, social justice work, technological risk management, problem-solving, student development, retention, as well as diversity and inclusion (

PhD thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2017

Most engineering education today does not adequately prepare students to contribute to sustainab... more Most engineering education today does not adequately prepare students to contribute to
sustainability. For example, engineering students often do not learn how to address complex
and ill-structured sustainability problems that involve different stakeholders, value conflicts,
and uncertainty; such problems are also called wicked problems. Efforts to improve
engineering education in this regard are hampered by a lack of research on how engineering
education can prepare students to address wicked problems.
This thesis aims to address this gap in two parts. The research described in Part 1 aimed to
explore what engineering students need to learn to be able to address wicked problems. For
this purpose, a pre-study literature review and two empirical studies were conducted. For the
empirical studies, engineering students were interviewed and the interviews were analyzed
using qualitative content analysis (Study 1) and a phenomenographic approach (Study 2). The
research in Part 2 aimed to link the theoretical results from Part 1 to engineering education
practice by focusing on teaching and assessment. The research in Part 2 comprises two
empirical studies in which pragmatic action research (Study 3) and design-based research
(Study 4) was used.
The results of the research include (a) a description of engineering education-specific
challenges in addressing wicked problems; (b) 3 descriptions of wicked problems and design
principles for wicked problem descriptions; (c) description of four different approaches that
engineering students have used in addressing a wicked problem; (d) 22 intended learning
outcomes, 3 assessment approaches, an analytic assessment rubric, and a rubric-based
intervention for students’ ability to integratively address wicked problems; (e) validity,
reliability, and utility evaluations of the assessment rubric; and (f) insights about students’
performance, their approaches to wicked problems, and affordances for learning in differently
scaffolded activities during the rubric-based intervention.
Conclusions from the research include that an integrative approach to wicked problems is
most appropriate, that students are able to use such an approach, but that they may need
instructional support to do so. Conclusions further include that strong cognitive scaffolding
with a highly detailed assessment rubric can support students’ understanding of the nature of
wicked problems and students’ performance in written responses to wicked problems, but
possibly also limit affordances for deep and transferable learning.

Licentiate thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, 2014

Telephone + 46 (0)31-772 1000 Cover: Illustration of an understanding of a wicked sustainability ... more Telephone + 46 (0)31-772 1000 Cover: Illustration of an understanding of a wicked sustainability problem as an integrated whole that is composed of parts of the problem (red) and parts of the solution (green), which are related to each other in complex ways. For a detailed description, see paper II.