Dinner party with Queen Kristina – when the room becomes part of the teaching

“At first, we thought Sven Stolpe was a conservative, grumpy old man, but then we changed our minds – he’s likely to be more open to new ideas,” says one student, moving a magnetic portrait photo from one place to another around a fictional dinner table on the whiteboard.

Some classmates raise their eyebrows while others laugh in recognition.

There is an engaged buzz in the room among future secondary school teachers during senior lecturer Henric Bagerius’ workshop. In the flexible learning environment F147 in the Forum building at Örebro University, students work with historical interpretations and theoretical perspectives in a staged scenario: a dinner party with Queen Kristina.

Theory around a dinner table

Before the teaching activity, the students had read excerpts from Queen Kristina’s autobiography. They had also studied various texts and analyses by researchers on Queen Kristina’s reign and gender identity.

During the workshop, the students are first divided into expert groups. Each group works with a specific researcher, discussing and taking notes – directly on their desktops – using colour-coded whiteboard pens, each group having its own colour.

The groups are then split up. Each student takes their table and rolls it away to form new groups – the tables are moved together like pieces of cake that, together, form a whole cake. The colour-coded whiteboard pens make it easy to see that each new group comprises one student from each expert group, so that all researchers are represented.

“There’s a red one missing here,” shouts Henric Bagerius.

Now the task is to plan a dinner party. How should the researchers be seated to make the conversation as productive as possible? Which perspectives complement each other – and which risk clashing?

 

The students discuss in groups and move magnetic portraits of the guests around on the wall (a whiteboard) to try things out.

“Before regular seminars, we are given questions that we then discuss as a whole group. Here, we need to think a little differently. It becomes a bit like a game, which makes learning more fun and more like ‘learning by doing’. When you move things around and try things out, you also learn better,” says student Ella Fahlén.

 

Unexpected guests change the interpretation

When the groups are ready, new elements are introduced. First, actress Aleksa Lundberg joins the dinner via a video clip, discussing the play Kung Kristina Alexander and her encounter with Kristina as a historical figure. Aleksa Lundberg’s own experiences as a transgender person add another dimension to the encounter with Kristina. The students have seven minutes to reconsider their seating arrangements: between which researchers should she sit, and why?

Shortly afterwards, another guest arrives. Queen Kristina herself invites herself to the dinner. In a few minutes, the groups must make new decisions and justify them.

The workshop concludes with a joint review and vote on which interpretations are considered the most convincing and the most interesting.

“I feel there’s more engagement in the group when we get to work more practically, and there is no clear right or wrong. This makes you remember occasions like this more. It’s not a traditional seminar that gets lost in the crowd,” says student Max Nordin.

 

Teaching where everyone must contribute

A key idea in the approach is that each student is responsible for a theoretical approach. The students’ preparation is crucial to the group’s success. Individual responsibility and collaborative work reinforce one another.

When the expert groups are dissolved and the students meet in new groups, it becomes clear that the task cannot be accomplished without everyone contributing. The students realise that everyone in the group must be given space and listened to, says Henric Bagerius.

The workshop is deliberately conducted entirely without computers. Instead, the focus is on conversation, movement around the room and collective thinking, which is visible on tables and whiteboards.

“When digital devices are put aside, the dynamics of the room change,” says Henric Bagerius.

 

For him as a teacher, most of the work takes place before the seminar itself. During the seminar, his role is to observe, ask in-depth questions and contribute new perspectives. This approach is appreciated by the students.

“Henric shows that there are so many different ways of doing things – and he is incredibly good at keeping the thread going,” says Max Nordin.

“It’s a more rewarding way to learn when we, as students, get to be creative based on our knowledge. It makes teaching entertaining and fun,” says student Alexander Julihn.

 

The learning environment as an educational tool

design features whiteboard surfaces on both walls and desktops, enabling writing and rearranging furniture during the teaching session, as well as using several surfaces in parallel.

This means that the teaching has no set direction – neither literally nor pedagogically. Instead, the learning environment is shaped together with the students, based on the activity to be carried out.

 

“The students don’t sit still and listen. They read, write, point, erase, and move the tables and pictures on the boards, which means that body movements become part of the thinking process. The arguments take physical form in the room and can be re-examined together,” says Henric Bagerius.

For the teacher-students, the seminar also serves as inspiration and an example to take into their own professional lives.

“I know how difficult it is to keep students’ attention these days. As soon as a lecture or review goes on too long, they tune out. I noticed this during my teaching practice. As a teacher, you have to engage students, let them work in small groups, and set exercises to activate their learning,” says Ella Fahlén.