Norwegian Graduate School in Mathematics and Science Education

The Norwegian Graduate School in Mathematics and Science Education School, i.e. the School, will focus on research in and on teacher education in mathematics and science. A main reason for establishing the School is to bring together expertise across Norway in hosting a graduate school in mathematics education and science education for the benefits of enrolled PhD fellows and supervisors. The main goal of the School is to nurture the development of research competence among PhD fellows in mathematics education and science education and support their development in becoming excellent researchers. An important secondary goal is to promote excellence in mathematics and science education research and increase the knowledge base of what constitutes excellent teaching and learning in mathematics and science, from kindergarten through school and university, and life-long learning. The main target group is PhD fellows in mathematics and science education nationwide. The School will contribute to reducing the gap between national aspirations and outcomes by supporting PhD fellows enrolled in the School through the generation of learning environments created for students to foster their mathematical and scientific reasoning in collaborative networks. This will be done by offering PhD courses, research seminars, networking seminars, and summer schools for the PhD fellows. The secondary target group is actual and potential PhD supervisors in mathematics and science education. The third target group is teacher educators in mathematics and science. The School will nurture and develop networks of these supervisors and educators, creating synergy between the fields of study and scholars. This will be done by offering networking seminars where issues of supervision, research quality, theories and methodologies will be discussed.

The proposed graduate school in mathematics education (ME) and science education (SE) is a nationwide school that draws on each of the 15 partner institution’s special strengths regarding research experience and leadership of research. This school will promote the quality of ME and SE at all levels in Norway through a robust, dedicated, and nationally organised and endorsed graduate school in which participating PhD fellows conduct high-quality and relevant educational research. The graduate school aims to fill an added value role for PhD fellows withins these fields by offering a range of scientifc events for them to conduct high-quality and relevant educational research in mathematics and science. The proposed graduate school will support enrolled PhD fellows' participation in doctoral courses run by the partner institutions by covering travel costs. The graduate school will also offer exclusive events such as an annual summer school in which PhD fellows are to present and discuss their research in small groups led by international and national experts in ME and SE. The proposed school will offer Networking seminars twice a year in which PhD fellows, supervisors, and international experts meet to discuss contemporary issues of research. Furthermore, the proposed graduate school will offer scientific seminars comprising themes such as research ethics, publishing and dissemination, academic writing, and supervision. PhD fellows enrolled in the graduate school will each have 75%-seminar in which an international expert act as a discussant and critical friend of the fellow's work when this work is approximately 75% finished. Through such events, the proposed graduate school will nurture and develop the network of supervisors and PhD fellows inME and SE to reach its potential to support synergy between the fields. Theoretical frameworks and associated methodological approaches underpinning ME and SE will be emphasized as core enterprises of the proposed school.