Ola Magntorn

Ola has an extensive experience in teaching natural sciences at various levels of the schooling system. After graduating with a B.Sc. in biology and earth sciences, he and his wife Karin started the project "The mobile nature school" funded by the national school administration, the regional museum of natural history and the Southern-Sweden (Skåne) School Administration. The basic idea was to visit teachers and classes in their own natural environment, helping and inspiring them to combine practical and more theoretical nature-studies on their own surroundings. With a minibus full of field equipment suitable for exploring the near surroundings of the rural as well as urban schools, they worked together with teachers and students both in classes and outdoors.

After five years and a large number of educational activities with pupils, as well as training for in-service teachers, Ola decided to study to become a high-school teacher in biology and general science. During his five years as an upper secondary teacher, Ola and Karin also worked as consultants dealing with various inventories of plant and other biodiversity projects. In 1998, Ola started to work as a lecturer at Kristianstad University and after another five years decided to start his PhD studies in science education at Linköping University; from which he graduated in 2007 with the thesis "Reading Nature – developing ecological understanding through teaching". This thesis was based on the results from in depth studies of students learning in the outdoor environment and their abilities to reason about ecological processes, as well as the transfer of general ecological ideas and processes across different ecosystems.

Ola presently teach within the Biology Program, as well as in the different specialisations of the Teacher Education Program. He is part of the research group LISMA (Learning in Science and Mathematics), as well as a member of the group designing national tests in biology for the National Education Department.