The Gunnar Starck medal to excellent educator in chemistry

Karolina Broman is associate professor at the Department of Science and Mathematics education at Umeå University.

ImageMattias Pettersson

Since education and chemistry are my two favourite fields in terms of work, the Swedish Chemical Society's award means that I may have invested in the right things in my professional life.

“I am of course very happy and it feels extremely honorable to receive this medal. Since education and chemistry are my two favourite fields in terms of work, the Swedish Chemical Society's award means that I may have invested in the right things in my professional life. It also gives energy to continue working with chemistry and education, for example by organizing a chemistry conference for teachers in Umeå 8-12 August,” says Karolina Broman, associate professor at the Department of Science and Mathematics education at Umeå University.

Karolina Broman is a very effective and has an engaging positive attitude and has, with long and committed activities in chemistry education in Sweden, developed into a tone-setting educator with various educational projects and orientations, which makes her a highly suitable candidate for the Gunnar Starck medal.

The prize motivation reads:

For her outstanding educational activities at various levels of education, such as exceptional teaching activities, textbook authorship and presence in the media, which stimulates continued studies and activities in chemistry, chemical engineering and areas adjacent to chemistry.

Karolina defended her dissertation in 2015 with the thesis “Chemistry: content, context and choices: towards students' higher order problem solving in upper secondary school” at Umeå University. In her continuing employment as a lecturer (excellent teacher), she has been pedagogically active both nationally and internationally. She has aimed at several levels of education, lower secondary level (DinKemi), upper secondary level, university students (Punktum project), teacher training, context-based learning, flipped classrooms, and the digital teaching aid (DinKemi and Virtual Reality).

Karolina Broman has always been at the forefront of new educational tools, and she has also been an energetic writer in national and international magazines. In addition to the direct pedagogical work, she is involved in many assignment contexts such as KRC's board, assignments within the Chemistry Association (for example the Berzelius days teachers' association), member of the Swedish National Committee for Chemistry, Vice Chair for Western Europe in EuChemS division of Chemistry Education.

Over the years, Karolina Broman has participated with articles in Kemisk Tidskrift and NorDiNa, contributed with presentations at several teacher conferences and organized teacher training days for chemistry teachers.

The medal will be awarded on September 13 in Stockholm.