kirsty

• Glessmer, Mirjam; Daae, Kjersti; Thoni, Terese; Lundmark, Anders Mattias; Dunnett, Kirsty & Herde, Hannah (2026). Creating Grassroots Communities of Practice to Discuss Teaching. Oceanography. ISSN 1042-8275. 39(3). doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2026.e300. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Innovation in teaching practices is largely based on collegial relationships and resulting feelings of individual competence and autonomy (Thirkell, 2026). Discussion among educators is one of the best ways to develop teaching competence regarding which teaching methods to use; if and how to address topics outside of the core curriculum of a subject, for example, sustainability; what resources to use for inspiration or information; which good practices to adopt or role models to consider; how to relate to students and share responsibility for learning; and how to navigate institutional or disciplinary culture. Despite their importance, such conversations often happen “backstage,” informally at the coffee machine or in an office behind closed doors, and with trusted colleagues (Roxå and Mårtensson, 2009). This makes it challenging for new instructors to find colleagues with whom they can discuss and receive support for their teaching, and many young instructors can feel isolated, especially after moving to a new institution (Wennerberg and McGrath, 2022). Contextual knowledge of local teaching practices, local regulations and how to interpret them, others’ experiences teaching disciplinary concepts, among other things, might thus be inaccessible.

• Dunnett, Kirsty & Lundmark, A. M. (2026). Evaluating explanations of scientific concepts using image schemata. International Journal of Science Education. ISSN 0950-0693. p. 19–19. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2026.2623670. Full text in Research Archive
• Dunnett, Kirsty; Le, Kim Cuong & Holmqvist, T. (2025). Using the structure of the residuals to evaluate the goodness of fit: a pedagogical case study with Newton’s law of cooling. European Journal of Physics. ISSN 0143-0807. 46(5). doi: 10.1088/1361-6404/ae0201. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Introductions to data analysis in university physics often focus on fitting (typically to linearised functions) and uncertainty propagation, but residuals are less commonly introduced. Structured residuals indicate that the function (theoretical description) used to fit data does not capture all the relevant elements (i.e. the theoretical description is incomplete), and can be present even when the fit line is within the error bars of all data points. Residuals are therefore resilient to strategies such as forcing numerical agreement between data and theory (fit) through increasing uncertainty estimates. In this paper, we argue that introducing residuals alongside fitting could be an effective strategy for encouraging critical scientific thinking, particularly about trusting and understanding one’s data, and a useful tool for identifying—and realising—laboratory tasks that students can develop into genuine investigations. We illustrate this with a simple experiment of cooling water where the structured residuals of the fitted temperature data clearly indicate that the theoretical description (Newton’s Law of Cooling) is insufficient. This demonstrates the overlooked potential for residuals to be introduced as one of the earliest elements of data analysis.

• Andersen, Gard L.; Bakken, Kristian B.; Dauvi, Adriana Amundsen; Dunnett, Kirsty; Haakens, Torjus & Hansen, Ida Helene Magnor [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2025). Co-Creation in Practice: Redesigning a Geoscience Bachelor Course. Teaching and Learning Inquiry. ISSN 2167-4779. 13. doi: 10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.44. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Co-creation has the potential to enhance the quality of university education through its impact on course delivery and the participants’ learning experiences, but it is often not straightforward to realise. We present a case study of a student-initiated co-creation project where students, course teachers, and student administration worked together to improve an introductory geoscience course at a Norwegian university. A thematic analysis of participants’ reflections and interviews shows positive meta-cognitive, affective, and social effects similar to the results of other studies on co-creation. Students and staff brought complementary expertise to course development, and establishing a common pedagogical framework provided a shared language and basis for informed argumentation and negotiation. The process of co-creation also required an expertise of its own. For example, students initially struggled to recognise how they could contribute to the project, and while examples of other co-creation projects were helpful, students found local (culturally, geographically, subject-specific) examples of student involvement most relatable. We discuss how equity and power concerns were addressed in the working group, and how course representatives and discussion-based midterm evaluations partly addressed diversity and inclusivity challenges. The alignment of student initiative, access to funding for student salaries, and teachers primed to try a co-creation approach all contributed to this co-creation project. This suggests that even in an educational system known for its flat hierarchy and promotion of democracy and equality, catalysts and explicit support are important to promote co-creation.

• Dunnett, Kirsty; Barnes, Thomas & Lundmark, Anders Mattias (2024). Analogy use in textbook introductions to isostasy: Presentations, perceptions and physics. Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE). ISSN 1089-9995. doi: 10.1080/10899995.2024.2395225. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In teaching, analogies can be used to support the introduction of a new concept or idea with reference to a more familiar one. This relies on the learner’s correct understanding of the (supposedly) familiar situation, their identification of the relevant similarities (structural relations) between the two situations, and of the limits of the similarities. Without these, analogies may reinforce or introduce misconceptions. Through content analysis of 14 introductory textbooks, semi-structured interviews with four students, and analysis of two analogies, we explore how analogies are used as part of introductions to isostasy in introductory geoscience textbooks. Analogies were ubiquitous, but prior knowledge of the source domain was typically assumed and the majority were not elaborated (explained to the learner). Interviews indicate that, in the absence of sufficient elaboration, students turn to superficial similarities for clues on how to apply the analogies. Many textbooks used analogies amenable to this approach, indicating an alignment between textbook strategy and student reactions. However, giving precedence to superficial similarities over explicit elaboration of structural relations may favor a novice approach to learning. Analyzing an analogy using free-body diagrams demonstrates how an apparently relevant analogy can introduce misconceptions, both in terms of the underlying physics (introducing a fictitious force) and the Earth application (unnatural behavior of the lithosphere) when not sufficiently, or correctly, elaborated. We conclude that the introductory textbooks place much of the responsibility for appropriate use of their analogies, and for avoiding misconceptions, on the learners and their teachers.

• Dunnett, Kirsty (2024). Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics. Högre utbildning. 14(3), p. 43–55. doi: 10.23865/hu.v14.6457. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Instructors’ assumptions about students’ expectations can affect the opportunities and support they provide. A survey of students starting undergraduate degrees in physics in the UK and Sweden found that they expect that their laboratory work will contribute to skills acquisition, but also be difficult. Differences between institutions may reflect course structure or prior experience: for example, Swedish students have lower expectations of difficulty than UK students. Specific concerns around insufficient working equipment are more common in the UK, but Swedish students expect more explicit connections to theoretical courses. The implications for student motivation are discussed in relation to self-efficacy and expectancyvalue theory. Concern around practical work may have been obscured in earlier studies on students’ attitudes towards practical work and demonstrates the importance of including the student perspective in course design and delivery.

• Dunnett, Kirsty & Lundmark, Anders Mattias (2024). The complexities of moving topics between disciplines: the case of buoyancy and isostasy. International Journal of Science Education. ISSN 0950-0693. 46(12), p. 1239–1255. doi: 10.1080/09500693.2023.2283907. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ‘A lack of prior knowledge in the other discipline’ is often given by geoscience instructors to explain why students struggle to apply knowledge from other disciplines to the Earth. We examine this assumption by considering the disciplinary crossing of buoyancy (physics) to isostasy (geoscience). We investigate the teachers’ perspective through workshops, and use the theoretical framework of Interdisciplinary Reasoning and Communication to explore what geoscience textbooks ask of students. Most introductory textbooks rely on students applying pre-existing knowledge of hydrostatics in a geoscience context (forwards transfer), while intermediate and advanced textbooks develop the necessary physics explicitly in a geoscientific context (backwards transfer). Moreover, introductory textbooks frequently use analogies for concrete translation between physics and geoscience ideas, but the analogical relations and where they break down (relational translations), receive little attention. This places high demands on students’ prior understanding of hydrostatics to successfully integrate and transfer knowledge from physics to geoscience. If students lack the relevant physics background, introductory textbooks may force them to rely on intuitive ideas of physics, potentially reinforcing old, and giving rise to new misconceptions. Our results move the focus from perceived shortcomings of students to the demands made on them in interdisciplinary learning.

• Dunnett, Kirsty (2022). Understanding the nature of students' experience of pre-university practical work in physics. European Journal of Physics. ISSN 0143-0807. 43(5). doi: 10.1088/1361-6404/ac7e88. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Introductory practical work in university physics degrees is dominated by highly constrained and instructions-based tasks with limited value for developing students’ scientific and critical thinking skills. One possible explanation for this may be the assumptions made about new students’ prior experiences. Over the course of 5 years, approximately 800 first year physics students completed a simple survey of the nature of their prior experiences of physics practical work. An informative means of presenting the data and understanding their experiences as either passive or practical, or in terms of their freedom to make decisions, is developed. Most new undergraduate students have some experience of decision making in relation to physics practical work, which should be incorporated into course design. The data also indicates that different education systems provide different opportunities for decision making, illustrating the need to align practical training at a local level.

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• Dunnett, Kirsty & Glessmer, M. S. (2025). Positionality statements in engineering education: A European perspective. Journal of Engineering Education. ISSN 1069-4730. 114(3). doi: 10.1002/jee.70014. Full text in Research Archive
• Dunnett, Kirsty; Glessmer, Mirjam; Lundmark, Anders Mattias & Daae, Kjersti (2025). “It’s only talk” - how talking about teaching can support professional development for university teachers. Full text in Research Archive
• Lundmark, Anders Mattias & Dunnett, Kirsty (2025). “The Earth is like a…” - teaching geoscience through analogies. Full text in Research Archive
• Dunnett, Kirsty & Lundmark, Anders Mattias (2024). Physics of the Earth in introductory geosciences: an exploration of interdisciplinarity. doi: https:/indico.cern.ch/event/1162407/contributions/5943562/attachments/2851026/5089099/026_OR_revised_2.pdf. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Topics from physics occur frequently in the geosciences and are among those reported to cause students most difficulty. One topic that uses physics in a Earth setting is isostasy that accounts for many Earth features as the interplay of elasticity and buoyancy of the Earth’s outer mechanical layer (the lithosphere). We explore the presentation of isostasy in introductory undergraduate geosciences textbooks and use a framework for interdisciplinary reasoning and communication to analyse the demands made on students. Presentations are highly variable and often complex; the buoyancy-only model is emphasised and a prior knowledge of hydrostatics typically assumed.

• Dunnett, Kirsty; Barnes, Thomas & Lundmark, Anders Mattias (2024). Are textbooks making Isostasy unnecessarily hard for students to get to grips with? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In an analysis of introductory geosciences textbooks, we have found that isostasy is introduced almost identically to its original 1855 presentation (Airy, 1855). This presentation neglects the importance of lithospheric flexure and introductions therefore do not reflect the modern understanding of the Earth's behaviour (Watts, 2001). We find that the presentation of the underlying physics of buoyancy is often unclear, and that the analogies used are usually poorly explained in the textbooks. Interviews with students indicate a tendency to focus on the surface features of analogical presentations, rather than the structural relations that reflect causal processes. They easily identify some of the limitations of the analogies, but without explanation struggle to integrate this into their understanding of the Earth's tectonic behaviour. Drawing on the idea of Image Schemata from Embodied Cognition (Johnson, 1987), we consider some everyday experiences that may be relevant to support students when developing a conceptualisation of isostasy and lithospheric flexure.

• Lundmark, Anders Mattias; Dunnett, Kirsty; Glessmer, Mirjam Sophia; Daae, Kjersti & Faber, Carly (2023). Turning teaching questions into research questions. Full text in Research Archive

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