Lene Møller Madsen

University of Copenhagen · Department of Science Education

Higher education has recently been recognized as a key driver for societal growth in the Global South and capacity building of African universities is now widely included in donor policies. The question is; how do capacity building projects affect African universities, researchers and students? Universities and their scientific knowledges are often...

Universities in Africa are increasingly seen as key drivers for development and, hence, as a focus point for development agencies in the North. Through the ENhancement of REsearch Capacity (ENRECA) programme 1989-2009, the Danish Development Agency has facilitated Ph.D. education and research in partnerships with African higher education institutio...

In many higher education curricula, pre-structured step-by-step laboratory exercises in introductory courses in geographical information systems (GIS) are an important part of the training of future geographers. The reasons for this approach to teaching GIS are manifold, such as large numbers of students, off-the-shelf desktop software that is ofte...

This paper develops two sets of concepts to theorize why students engage differently in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These theoretical concepts are used as an analytical lens to explore empirical data on the experiences and engagement of students enrolled in an undergraduate GIS course in planning and management. The analysis shows that...

Within the last 30 years, geographical information systems (GIS) have been used increasingly in the training of geographers. On the basis of the philosophy of technology and instrumental genesis, we sketch how the use of instruments interacts with learning processes and outline how this can be studied. We empirically analyse students' learning proc...

In this paper, we aim to understand the implications of the structural changes of the Bologna process from a student perspective. We investigate how bachelor’s degree students’ in a post-Bologna era with three-year bachelor’s degree and two-year master’s degree units construct their post-bachelor’s choice narratives in two different science degree...

Internationalisation of higher education in the global South manifests in different ways through different modalities. Using a multi-disciplinary mobility-lens, this paper discusses outcomes of geographical mobility practiced by African scholars going to universities in the global North as part of research capacity-building programmes. Over the pas...

This essay explores transnational capacity building projects to highlight some of the structural and processual challenges in decolonizing institutional spaces and power structures. We offer a view from the Global North by drawing on our own experiences of such projects and argue that issues of coloniality in research capacity-building projects mus...

This article studies issues of coloniality in so-called capacity-building projects between universities in Africa and Scandinavia. Even fifty years after independence, the African higher education landscape is a product of the colonial powers and subsequent uneven power relations, as argued by a number of researchers. The uneven geography and power...

This paper investigates the experiences of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) during their first year in higher education, based on 874 Danish and 1314 Norwegian students' responses to an online questionnaire. Rather than focusing on averages, we compare the experiences of two distinct groups of students: those who...

Equal access to higher education has for long been a political ambition, however, despite the expansion of the number of students now entering higher education it has not yet been achieved. The present special issue offers insights into the encounter between students from non-traditional backgrounds and higher education. Five individual studies fro...

To understand student drop-out from university, research must explore students’ first-year experiences and the challenges they encounter. This article analyses the first-year experiences of non-traditional students in Danish science and engineering university programmes. Focusing on identity theory and the framework of integration processes provide...

The article can be downloaded here: http://rdcu.be/nM4W Research on students’ transition, retention and experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has increasingly focused on identity formation and on students’ integration in the study programmes. However, studies focusing on the role of the curriculum in this process at...

This chapter presents the results of a quantitative analysis of national data covering Danish students who in the period 1995–2009 completed an upper-secondary school programme and entered a higher-education science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) programme. The analysis focuses on identifying variables that change the hazard ratio f...

This chapter takes it point of departure in a discussion of the current literature on student drop/opt out within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) (This chapter is based on a section of Ulriksen L, Madsen LM, Holmegaard HT, Stud Sci Educ 46(2):209–244, 2010). It outlines Tinto’s model of understanding retention in general wit...

To increase the number of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), it is not sufficient to attract more students to the programmes. It is equally important to ensure that the students complete their studies. This chapter presents a qualitative analysis of the experiences of 20 students who entered a science or engineeri...

This chapter presents a study carried out in three Danish higher education study programmes within science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM), each with a heavy imbalance in students’ biological sex. In Denmark few female students apply for computer science and physics with nanotechnology while few male students apply for molecular biom...

This chapter demonstrates how narrative theory in general, and narrative psychology in particular, contribute to understand how students make meaning of their choice of post-secondary studies. In particular two central ideas within the theory are unfolded; the concept of identity and the concept of time. The applicability of the theory is discussed...

This paper presents results from a qualitative longitudinal study of students’ transition into higher education engineering. The study aims at comparing upper-secondary school students’ expectations of engineering with their actual experiences when encountering the engineering programme. It explores how this encounter provides a platform for studen...

This paper presents a case for interviewing students as an effective yet complex way to integrate reflexive practice into teaching and research. Even though many human geographers are accustomed to conducting qualitative interviews in various contexts, it is not straightforward to interview one's own students. This paper addresses three issues: imp...

The paper presents results from a longitudinal study of students’ decisions to enrol on a higher education science programme and their experiences of it. The aim is to give insights into students’ transition process and negotiation of identity. This is done by following a cohort of 38 students in a series of qualitative interviews during a 3-year p...

We examine the relationship between research and teaching practices as they are enacted by university professors in a research-intensive university. First we propose a theoretical model for the study of this relationship based on Chevallard’s anthropological theory. This model is used to design and analyze an interview study with physical geographe...

Denne artikel præsenterer resultater fra et forskningsprojekt, hvor studerende er fulgt fra slutningen af gymnasiet og ind på en lang videregående teknisk eller naturvidenskabelig uddannelse. Fokus er på de studerendes løbende forventningsafstemning i mødet med den nye uddannelse og de forhandlinger, der finder sted over tid, når de studerende fors...

In the literature, there is a general concern that a less number of students choose to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). This paper presents results from a Danish longitudinal study which examines students’ choice of whether or not to continue studying STEM after upper-secondary school. In particular, this study focuses...

This article shows how the application of narrative methodology brings new insights into understanding students' choices and their experiences upon entering a higher education programme. The point of departure is a study of a cohort of 38 students followed over a three-year period from when they were about to finish upper-secondary school in 2009 a...

This paper demonstrates how narrative psychology, as a theoretical approach, extends our previous comprehensions of students’ post secondary choices. The paper shows how students’ post secondary choices is an ongoing process taking place over time where individuals continuously work on their identities in terms of negotiating and constructing a coh...

In this article we analyze a project that used facilitation techniques, which are known from training in industry, to improve the study environment at a public research university in Denmark. In 2009, the project was initiated in one graduate program; and it has subsequently been modified and institutionalized. The project did not change the teachi...

This paper presents the first results from a longitudinal qualitative study following 38 Danish students' choice of higher education. By using a narrative psychological framework it is shown how the choice of higher education is embedded in various dilemmas, making it difficult for the students to make meaningful choices. They believe the choice sh...

In this paper we provide an overview of the literature on understandings of drop out/opt out from science, technology and mathematics (STM) higher education programmes. After outlining the literature on students leaving higher education programmes in general, we then explore the research on drop out/opt out from STM programmes in particular, with a...

This paper presents results from a longitudinal study in which 134 students are followed in their transition process from the end of upper secondary school to university. Through interviews with 38 students, this research aims at understanding for what reasons students choose a Higher Education in science, technology, engineering or math (STM), but...

The article addresses the issue of being a ‘double’ insider when conducting interviews. Double insider means being an insider both in relation to one's research matter – in the authors’ case the making of geographical knowledge – and in relation to one's interviewees – our colleagues. The article is a reflection paper in the sense that we reflect u...

Frederik V. Christiansen, Camilla Østerberg Rump og Lene Møller Madsen. »Using teacher training courses as levers for faculty educational development – an example from the University of Copenhagen«. In: Frontiers in Science Education Research. Ayhan Bilsel og Mehmet U. Garib (eds). Eastern Mediterranean Uni- versity Press, 2009, s. 531–540. ISBN :...

Lene Møller Madsen, Frederik V. Christiansen og Camilla Østerberg Rump. »Development of personal desiderata while learning GIS«. I: Frontiers in Science Education Research. Udg. af Ayhan Bilsel og Mehmet U. Garib. Eastern Mediterranean University Press, 2009, s. 531–540. ISBN : 978-975-8401-67-3.

In this paper, we examine the relation between teaching and research on mathematics in universities. We suggest that this relation can be fruitfully examined from the perspective of mathematicians' praxeologies (organisations of didactical and mathematical practice). We illustrate the approach with data from an interview study involving five top-le...

Construction of scientific knowledge can be seen as a struggle over who should define the terms and conditions of legitimate fields of research. Sociologists of scientific knowledge (SSK) have pointed to the importance of analysing scientific knowledge in the same way as other types of knowledge. This idea guides the present paper on Danish researc...

Although the late 1990s saw increasing use of qualitative data in rural studies and a turn towards issues such as identities and the construction of rurality, many rural researchers still rely on a range of different methods and use both qualitative and quantitative data. However, the challenge of combining quantitative and qualitative data and usi...

Voluntary schemes that offer payments to farmers who agree to desist from certain damaging operations or carrying out environmentally sensitive activities have become an integral part of current European agricultural policy. These schemes tend to operate from the presumption of an economically rational behaviour of the landowner obtaining the grant...

Grant-aided field afforestation has been part of agricultural policies across Europe since the implementation of EU-regulation 2080/92. However, the goals of afforestation are changing with increased focus on afforestation as a means of securing environmental and recreational purposes. Using Denmark as an example, the article outlines the goals of...

Grant-aided field afforestation has been part of agricultural policies across Europe since the implementation of EU-regulation 2080/92. However, the goals of afforestation are changing with increased focus on afforestation as a means of securing environmental and recreational purposes. Using Denmark as an example, the paper outlines the goals of th...

The author's Doctor of Philosophy thesis. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Copenhagen, 2001. Includes bibliographical references.

The article analyses the results of the scheme for field afforestation (EU-regulation 2080/92) in Denmark. The purpose is twofold, firstly to document the afforestation on arable land taking place both within the scheme and outside the scheme for field afforestation. The former is documented in Ribe and Vejle counties whereas the latter is document...

The paper outlines the concept of multi-purpose forestry. The approach taken concentrates on afforestation and covers the most intensively used agricultural areas in Western Europe with a focus on Denmark. Different spatial demands for new woodlands within the concept of multi-purpose forestry are analysed. A scheme describing the spatial issues of...

The vascular flora of 62 Danish beech forests of eastern Jutland ranging in size from 1–445 ha, was investigated for species–area relations. Species richness reflecting total diversity, forest diversity, and of different habitat groups, were corrected for non-linearity by means of a log–log power function transformation and regressed to forest area...

An automatic meteorological station has been operating at the Arctic Station (69°15'N, 53°31'W) in West Greenland since 1990. This paper summarizes meteorological parameters during 1997, including snow and sea ice cover, ground temperatures and active layer development, and presents comments on the local permafrost thickness. In March 1997 an autom...

The present paper sketches out a method for a quantitative description of landscape structure, which can be used for biologically optimal landscape management. The approach suggested is based on a landscape ecological framework and emphasis is laid on spatial characterisation of the landscape. It aims at supplementing conventional landscape descrip...