Research Prize for Inger Eriksson

Professor Inger Eriksson, a prominent CHAT scholar and long-time activist in ISCAR, has received a major prize for her life work, largely building on the legacy of V. V. Davydov’s theory of learning activity.

Inger Eriksson, Professor at Stockholm University, has been awarded Sweden’s largest prize in the field of educational science: the Lärarstiftelsen (Teachers’ Foundation) Research Prize

The Teachers’ Foundation notes that Inger Eriksson has made a significant contribution by providing teachers with a professional and scientific approach to developing their teaching—particularly in the field of mathematics.

“It is gratifying to see that subject-didactic research aimed at developing teaching is being recognized and encouraged in this way! All the research and the projects focused on teaching development that I have been involved in—and led—since 2004 are entirely built upon fantastic collaborations with teachers and fellow researchers,” says Inger Eriksson.

“Receiving this prize is a great honor, and I am, of course, extremely happy and grateful.”

She explains that the concept of “learning activity” as a didactic tool is based on the premise that theoretical and conceptual knowledge cannot simply be transferred from teachers to students through descriptions, narratives, or lectures. Instead, students must be given the opportunity to explore the knowledge they are expected to acquire.

“I wouldn’t say I follow one specific model. Rather, I work from a learning-theory perspective—using ‘learning activity’ to design content-rich tasks and to shape the communicative work that takes place in the classroom.”

The Teachers’ Foundation Research Prize 2026

• The Teachers’ Foundation Research Prize is awarded annually to researchers who have developed new knowledge of great significance to the teaching profession and the advancement of teaching practices. The researcher awarded the prize must have collaborated with practicing teachers in their research work.
• Through her involvement in Stockholm Teaching and Learning Studies (STLS), the "Teachers’ Research Conference" (Lärarnas Forskningskonferens) forum, and various ULF projects, Inger Eriksson has demonstrated that the academic world and the school sector can come together to initiate, support, and disseminate research and development projects focused on teaching and learning.
• Inger Eriksson has also been active in sharing her research with practicing teachers, and she has worked directly alongside teachers to develop teaching practices.

Another central premise of "learning activity" is student agency—the idea that students must find a reason for, or a sense of purpose in, engaging in exploration, problem-solving, or what might be described as theoretical work.

“In the work conducted by me and my colleagues, we have primarily designed and tested tasks and teaching strategies aimed at fostering students' algebraic thinking. In our most recent project—funded by the Swedish Institute for Educational Research (Skolforskningsinstitutet)—we developed a web-based teaching guide on how to introduce the positional numeral system to younger students, based on the principles of 'learning activity theory.'”

Inger Eriksson and her colleagues found it particularly important that students be given the opportunity to explore the general structures underlying a specific object of knowledge. In the case of the positional numeral system, this involves, among other things, understanding when and why a new numerical unit needs to be formed. “In our standard base-ten number system, this means that once we have counted to nine and add one more, we form a new numerical unit—a ‘ten’—which is written as 10. However, because students are already so accustomed to counting in base ten, it can be difficult for them to grasp the underlying principle of the positional number system.”

“For this reason, we have developed a variety of tasks that allow students to explore how new numerical units are formed through regrouping in different bases, and which digits can be used to represent these numbers,” says Inger Eriksson.

The research team included Marie Björk, Helena Eriksson, Gunilla Pettersson Berggren, and Sanna Wettergren, as well as several teachers. At Sjöstadskolan, they worked with teacher Annika Petersson, and at Tjärnaskolan, with Negin Ayati.