Peter Nicolai Aashamar

• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Selling, Alexander Jonas Viktor & Klette, Kirsti (2026). Too Much or Too Little? Connecting to the World beyond the Classroom in Lower-Secondary Mathematics and Social Studies Lessons in Norway and Sweden. In Kilbrink, Nina; Stolare, Martin; Brennan, Aimie & Scott, Ann (Ed.), Teacher Education and Knowledge Transformation in Times of Change. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004731547. p. 173–192. doi: 10.1163/9789004731554_010. Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby (2025). Inquiry in social studies and social science: Linking teachers’ perspectives and classroom practice. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). 9(4). doi: 10.7577/njcie.6284. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Inquiry-oriented teaching has been central to social science education literature and curricula for years. However, few empirical studies, especially in the Nordic context, have examined such teaching practices across various contexts. This study drew on teacher interviews and video-recorded classroom observations in Norwegian lower and upper secondary social studies and social science to explore teachers’ perceptions and implementations of inquiry under a new national curriculum reform. We used a comparative approach, combining content analysis of interviews and the EDUCATE observation protocol, to identify the prevalence and characteristics of inquiry-oriented teaching practices in the classroom videos. Our findings suggest clear links between teachers’ perspectives on inquiry in social studies and social science and the teachers’ implementation of inquiry-oriented teaching practices. Most teachers viewed inquiry as inherent to the subject and implemented it in various ways in most lessons. Teachers largely understood inquiry as allowing students to seek information and develop answers independently; they emphasised the importance of scaffolding and differentiation; and while teachers discussed various social science topics, there was limited focus on research methods in the interviews. Using the EDUCATE observation protocol for inquiry-oriented teaching, we found that most lesson segments included inquiry-oriented practices; however, they primarily included the investigation phase, while preparation and consolidation of inquiry were observed to a lesser extent. The implications include specific suggestions for developing inquiry-oriented teaching in social studies and social science education.

• Mikander, Pia; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Högström, Jenny (2025). Anti-pluralist parties in Nordic classrooms: negotiating the boundaries between us and them in social studies education. Acta Didactica Norden (ADNO). 19(1). doi: 10.5617/adno.10867. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Political parties with anti-pluralist agendas have gained support in the Nordic countries, not least through their presence in public debates and social media. This challenge to democratic citizenship education has been addressed by educational scholars inspired by agonistic theory. Agonistic scholars have highlighted that classroom discussions containing disagreement and emotions enable a more political democratic citizenship education as students may negotiate boundaries between contrasting political identities. However, little attention has been given to students’ engagement with and boundary work related to anti-pluralist discourses. The present study analyzes video material from four Nordic countries focusing on what happens when anti-pluralist parties and ideology become topicalized in classrooms. We draw on Mouffe’s theory of agonism and us/them distinctions to discuss anti-pluralist parties in the context of social studies teaching. The concept of agonism provides us with a lens to analyze the appearance of anti-pluralist articulations in classroom discourse. Through a thematic analysis of four classroom episodes, we explore the relationships between agonism, anti-pluralist discourses, and humor and irony to negotiate the boundaries between us and them in social studies education. Humor and irony are increasingly politicized, particularly in anti-pluralistic discourses and aesthetics. As such, they are phenomena that social studies educators need to be aware of and address in their teaching practices. As humor becomes more common in political communication, we suggest a need for more classroom studies and theoretical development to address its impact on democratic citizenship education.

• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Klette, Kirsti & Christensen, Anders Stig (2024). Teaching higher-order thinking in social studies: The role of content coverage and intellectual challenge. Journal of Social Science Education. ISSN 1611-9665. 23(1). doi: 10.11576/jsse-5808. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose: The study aimed at investigating the prevalence and characteristics of classroom practices geared at promoting higher-order social studies thinking, and the potential dilemma for teachers between focusing on explaining knowledge to and intellectually challenging students. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative design using data from naturalistic classroom observations of 80 social studies lessons in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We deployed the PLATO observation system to systematically measure intellectual challenge and the conceptual complexity of teacher explanations across the three countries. Findings: We found evidence that many teachers promoted higher-order thinking to varying degrees within and across the three countries. Furthermore, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish teachers seemed to focus on different teaching practices related to higher-order thinking. Practical implications: These findings provide important empirical knowledge about naturally occurring classroom practices in the Nordic context that may be relevant for teachers to reflect on higher-order thinking in social studies.

• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Klette, Kirsti (2023). Powerful knowledge in the social studies classroom and beyond. Journal of Curriculum Studies. ISSN 0022-0272. p. 1–21. doi: 10.1080/00220272.2023.2234427. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article examines how teachers and students connect disciplinary knowledge to contexts outside the classroom in naturally occurring teaching in 80 Nordic lower secondary social studies lessons using a standardized observation manual. We found evidence that teachers often connected disciplinary knowledge to students’ experiences and wider societal issues. However, our findings highlight interesting differences in the extent to which teachers unpack such connections to situations outside of school. Departing from the discussion on powerful knowledge within subject-specific education, we discuss the educational potential and limitations of recontextualising and establishing interactions between horizontal and vertical discourse in social studies teaching. Our findings provide empirical insights that are relevant for the ongoing discussion on powerful knowledge as well as for teachers’ professional development.

• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Bakken, Jonas & Brevik, Lisbeth M. (2021). Fri fra lærebokas tøyler. Om bruk av læreboka og andre tekster i norsk, engelsk og samfunnsfag på 9. og 10. trinn. Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-2052. 3. Full text in Research Archive

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• Mathias, Gro; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Ott, Annelie (2026). How Does a Society Change? Journal of Social Science Education (JSSE). ISSN 1611-9665. 25. doi: 10.11576/JSSE-9228. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Review of Ingerid Straume's How Does a Society Change? (Bloomsbury, 2023). Straume treats societal change as an ethical imperative and argues that societies change by changing their social imaginaries. Drawing on Castoriadis, she develops a conception of autonomy that is collective as well as individual, and locates the proper scale for educational and political action at the level of institutions—neither the planetary nor the individual scale. The reviewer commends the book while noting a tension between its argument and its classroom examples, which lean on individual entrepreneurship. For social science education, its central claim is worth taking seriously: education is not a function of the political system but constitutive of it, and must remain semi-independent if it is to enable societal reflexivity at all.

• Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Christensen, Anders Stig; Jakobsson, Martin; Mikander, Pia & Walkert, Michael [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Social studies teaching in Nordic classrooms. doi: https:/www.su.se/english/divisions/department-of-teaching-and-learning/calendar/events/2025-09-16-noksa-nordic-conference-in-social-studies-education. Full text in Research Archive
• Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk; Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Skarpaas, Kaja Granum; Doetjes, Gerke (Gerard) & Aashamar, Peter Nicolai (2025). The Implementation of Educational Reforms and Changing Classroom Practices. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE). 9(4). doi: 10.7577/njcie.6457. Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Andersson-Bakken, Emilia (2025). Ut og formidle kunnskap. Full text in Research Archive
• Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby & Aashamar, Peter Nicolai (2025). Inquiry in two social science subjects: Linking the national curriculum, teachers’ understandings and classroom practice. Full text in Research Archive
• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Blikstad-Balas, Marte; Klette, Kirsti; Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby; Selling, Alexander Jonas Viktor & Ahmadian, Shilan [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Skolens tilstand: Hva skjer i norske klasserom? Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai (2020). Observing Democratic Citizenship Instruction in Nordic Classrooms. Full text in Research Archive
• Bakken, Jonas; Brevik, Lisbeth M. & Aashamar, Peter Nicolai (2020). Myter om læreboka. Full text in Research Archive
• Blikstad-Balas, Marte; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai & Tveit, Sverre (2019). Elleville konspirasjonsteorier Pinlig og mislykket retorisk tokt fra professorene Torgersen og Sæverot. Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai (2019). Et skråblikk på kritisk tenkning i samfunnsfag. sosiologen.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby & Brevik, Lisbeth M. (2018). Diskusjon som flerfaglig demokratisk ferdighet. Bedre Skole. ISSN 0802-183X. p. 31–35. Full text in Research Archive
• Stovner, Roar Bakken; Hatlevik, Ove Edvard; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk & Lid, Gunnar (2025). Å arbeide algoritmisk i matematikk. Algoritmisk tenkning og programmering på 8. trinn, 10. trinn og Vg1.Rapport 5 fra forsknings- og evalueringsprosjektet EDUCATE ved Institutt for lærerutdanning og skoleforskning, Universitetet i Oslo. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788294119028. Full text in Research Archive
• Stovner, Roar Bakken; Hatlevik, Ove Edvard; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Brevik, Lisbeth M. & Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk (2025). Stovner, R. B., Hatlevik, O. E., Aashamar, P. N., Brevik, L. M., & Gudmundsdottir, G. B. (2025). Å arbeide algoritmisk i matematikk. Algoritmisk tenkning og programmering på 8. trinn, 10. trinn og Vg1.Rapport 5 fra forsknings- og evalueringsprosjektet EDUCATE ved Institutt for lærerutdanning og skoleforskning, Universitetet i Oslo. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
• Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk; Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Barreng, Rebecca Linnéa Söderström; Dodou, Katherina & Doetjes, Gerard [Show all 15 contributors for this article] (2024). Å gi rom for variasjon og valgfrihet, mens vi venter på digital dømmekraft. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788294119011. Full text in Research Archive
• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Gudmundsdottir, Greta Björk; Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Barreng, Rebecca Linnéa Söderström; Dodou, Katherina & Doetjes, Gerard [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2024). Å jobbe utforskende på vg1 og vg2. Den enkelte lærers undervisning har mer å si enn fagenes egenart. Rapport 3 fra forsknings- og evalueringsprosjektet EDUCATE ved Institutt for lærerutdanning og skoleforskning, Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9789788269243. Full text in Research Archive
• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Doetjes, Gerke; Bakken, Jonas; Baran, Mukadder; Beiler, Ingrid Rodrick & Brkan-Musad, Altijana [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2020). Tospråklig opplæring på fagenes premisser. Rapport fra evalueringen av tospråklig opplæring i skolen (ETOS-prosjektet). Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9789788269243. Full text in Research Archive
• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Doetjes, Gerke (Gerard); Bakken, Jonas; Baran, Mukkader; Rodrick, Ingrid Beiler & Brkan-Masud, Altijana [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2020). Tospråklig opplæring på fagenes premisser. Rapport fra evalueringen av tospråklig opplæring i skolen (ETOS-prosjektet). 7Letras. ISSN 9789788269243. Full text in Research Archive
• Aashamar, Peter Nicolai; Mathé, Nora Elise Hesby & Brevik, Lisbeth M. (2017). MA thesis: Diskusjon og demokrati. En videostudie av muligheter for diskusjon om samfunnsfaglige tema. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

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