Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for University Science Education

Research

The USE Center will strengthen Denmark’s ability to perform translational and discipline-based education research that is prompted and informed by teachers and teach-ing practice and improves teaching and learning.

This would strengthen the foundation and infra-structure for Danish science education to be firmly based on state-of-the-art knowledge about designing and carrying out teaching and about methodologies and curriculum design that are appropriate to contemporary educational objectives and for the students.

How is the research translational?

Design-based research projects and research & development projects ensure that the research questions will be both generated from and directly inform teaching practice. This integration fosters a dynamic feedback loop where findings from the research are translated into actionable strategies. Furthermore, teachers will be involved in the research processes and educational innovations will be grounded in the realities of classroom teaching.

Current Projects

In the first USE research plan, there are five projects. Each project “lives” at a Danish partner university, but with research collaborations across the partners.

Transforming University Science Education in the New Media Era

This project examines how emerging technologies such as AI, generative writing tools, and XR reshape science education at the university level. Across four work packages, it investigates AI-supported creative problem solving in physics and chemistry, threshold concepts in biology and physics, disciplinary writing in the AI era, and immersive XR learning environments. The project aims to generate empirically grounded designs and theoretical insights into how new media can foster disciplinary engagement, epistemic agency, and long-term learning.

PI: Prajakt Pande, Associate Professor, AU

Appreciating Abstractions

This project explores how students develop disciplinary understanding and identity through engagement with abstractions, modelling, and hands-on practice. One work package investigates the aesthetic and cognitive dimensions of abstraction and modelling in computer science and biology. Another examines how laboratory and fieldwork practices in biology and chemistry can be redesigned to foster curiosity, agency, and identity. Together the project develops new environments and teaching designs that integrate abstract and embodied practices.

PI: Emanuela Marchetti, Associate Professor, SDU

Transition and Alignment in First-Year University Courses

This project investigates how alignment across lectures, TA sessions, and assessment practices can improve the first-year experience in mathematics and physics. It investigates pedagogical designs that integrate AI-supported tools to strengthen coherence and engagement and explores how feedback and assessment can be reimagined as more relational and dialogic. The project aims to support smoother transitions into university study and improve retention in high-failure-rate courses.

PI: Dorte Moeskær Larsen, Associate Professor, SDU

Toolbox Courses in Data Science

This project addresses the didactical challenges of toolbox courses in data science, which serve students from multiple programmes with diverse needs. One work package maps programme-specific curricular needs and identifies gaps in current teaching. The second develops and tests new didactical designs that connect toolbox courses more closely to disciplinary applications. The project builds capacity in data science didactics in Denmark and creates internationally informed design packages adaptable to other courses.

PI: Carl Winsløw, Professor, UCPH

Science Educator Identity and Practice in Physics and Biology

This project studies how science educator identity shapes teaching practices and how professional development can promote sustainable adoption of active learning. Work packages explore educator identity and departmental networks, design professional development formats, and follow up with classroom observations to track how identity changes translate into practice. The project provides a framework for educator identity and comparative data on active learning in Danish universities.

PI: Adrienne Traxler, Associate Professor, UCPH