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The purpose of this paper is to add to the discussion about practitioner research in schools – by addressing mechanisms and systematic strategies based on theory in a research model, which enables the creation of knowledge products that enhance student learning and are sharable between teachers.

The research question is the following: Can a specific form of teachers’ research produce practice-based knowledge relevant beyond the borders of the local school context? This question is addressed through empirical examples from previously published papers on learning studies in natural sciences, mathematics and language.

This paper promotes the view that teachers in learning studies can create practical public knowledge relevant beyond their local context. The authors suggest that learning studies and variation theory can offer teachers mechanisms to create such public knowledge.

The paper proposes that teachers’ collaboration in professional learning communities, as in a learning study, not only has the capacity to increase students’ and teachers’ learning, but it can also be used to create practical public knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the collective exploration, process and knowledge production made in a learning study about solution chemistry.

Secondary school teachers conducted a learning study with variation theory as a guiding principle, supervised by a researcher. The relationship between teaching and learning was analyzed and evaluated in a learning study cycle of three lessons.

Critical aspects when teaching solution chemistry were identified, as well as enacted patterns of variation that significantly improved students’ learning. Examples of critical aspects were the particulate character of matter, especially the feature of “empty space” between particles, the connection between macroscopic phenomenon and sub‐microscopic explanations and the difference between answers with everyday language and scientific language.

The paper suggests that teachers in a learning study can produce new knowledge as well as use earlier research results when creating teaching activities that can improve their own practical work and students’ learning.

The study represents an example of research with the aim to improve teachers’ practice by generating knowledge in connection with teachers’ professional tasks.

The chapter presents how business-to-business (B2B) actors may use branding as a tool for maintaining strong, long-term business relationships with their customers. Current knowledge on how to maintain business relationships is presented, related to branding as a tool contributing to long-term and strong business relationships. The phenomenon is studied in detail through a case company, Verso Globe, which operates in the consultancy area and is specialized in sustainability issues. The authors conclude that shared values and norms lead to beneficial business relationships and help maintain them. Also, the case company is closely collaborating and co-creating with its customers, which leads to technological adaptation and increases mutual commitment. A reputation of sharing values, having interest to develop, and co-creating with customers benefits the company and builds the corporate brand. The company culture must, however, support the efforts that make the brand. It is therefore important for B2B actors to understand the customer’s values and use it as a basis for customer relationship management activities. Concurrently, the company’s own values and how it directs employees are elements of its culture, which is the basis for the corporate brand. The perfect match of business relationships is therefore lies in aligning values and norms between the partners.

The purpose of this paper is to present how experiences gained from a theory-informed lesson study – learning study (LrS) – in regard to a specific learning goal can be shared and used by other teachers in new contexts.

A group of teachers worked together in a cyclic, iterative process of planning, evaluating and revising teaching. The aim was to provide possibilities for grade 2 and 3 students to become familiar with negative numbers. The teacher group came to the conclusion that the students needed to be able to differentiate some aspects of negative numbers. The conjecture was put to the test in a follow-up study (FS) with five new teachers and eight classes. One lesson was taught based on the empirical findings in the LrS.

The results suggest that teachers’ collaborative work has possibilities to produce knowledge about critical aspects of learning that can be communicated and adopted in new contexts. The teachers in the FS were able to make sense of the results from LrS and incorporate the critical aspects in their teaching in a way that enhanced students’ learning.

It is demonstrated that teacher collaboration in LrS can create knowledge that goes beyond the border of the local context.

Knowledge concerning the meaning of the object of learning is an important contribution of Learning study. The purpose of this paper is to generate this kind of knowledge and show how it can be developed and refined in the different phases of a Learning study.

The paper reports on a Learning study in primary technology education conducted with students aged six to seven years old, with the aim to explore a specific object of learning; to construct a linkage mechanism for transferring and transforming movement.

The findings show several aspects to discern by the learner in order to grasp the object of learning and reveal how this knowledge was gradually developed during the Learning study. The presumed aspects, those identified in the pre- and post-test, as well as how they were elaborated in the lesson contributed to refining the meaning of the object of learning.

In Learning study, knowledge concerning the meaning of the object of learning is generated. By empirically demonstrating the development and specification of this knowledge during a Learning study, this paper will contribute to the discussion of knowledge products from Learning studies as well as to knowledge concerning what there is to know in order to develop a specific capability in technology education.

Previous literature shows that activation requirements for welfare recipients reduce welfare participation. However, the effect of mandatory activation on welfare entry and exit rates has not been fully examined. In this article, we use a rich set of register data that covers the entire population of Stockholm to study how the introduction of activation programs aimed at unemployed welfare recipients in various city districts affects the probability of individuals entering and exiting social assistance (SA). Our results show that mandatory activation has no overall average effects on SA entry or SA exit. However, we do find a significant negative effect of mandatory activation on the SA entry rate for young individuals and for unmarried individuals without children. For unmarried individuals without children, we find a positive but statistically insignificant effect on the probability to leave SA. Thus, individuals with fewer family responsibilities seem to be more responsive to the reform.

This paper describes and discusses aspects that affect research questions in a practice-based research study, where learning study is used as a framework. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding of the process where teachers and a researcher collaborate in transforming practical teaching problems into research questions.

A case study is conducted. Data consist of field notes, logbooks, manuscripts and conference papers from two learning studies conducted in grade 4 by three teachers and one researcher, and notes from meetings in a subject-teacher group at the school. The analysis focuses on how the research questions emerge and change in relation to discussions among teachers and in the research group of teaching, previous research and learning theory.

Questions about students’ discernment of the structure in the base-ten system emerged in learning study 1 and in the subject-teacher group. Discussions of previous research and the didactical theory learning activity transformed the research questions in learning study 2, into focusing students’ theoretical knowledge, examining general structures in the base system, using learning models as tools. Conditions for identification of specific teaching problems and alternative theory in a learning study are discussed.

The explicit example where research questions are transformed can be used in further discussions and methodological questions regarding formulation of research questions in educational research. Discussions, specifically of transforming research questions, when learning study is used may be promoted.