{"title":"Exploring elementary and middle school science teachers’ metadiscourse moves: a Vygotskian analysis and interpretation","authors":"Y. Soysal","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1761432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1761432","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study intended to explore elementary and middle school science teachers’ metadiscourse moves (MDMs) in Vygotskian perspective. MDMs indicates teacher-led attempts to cognitively engage students in classroom’s verbal occurrences. Participants of the study were 71 fifth, sixth, and seventh-grade students and their science teachers (two females, one male). Argument-based inquiry approach was used to design and implement classroom discourse. Systematic observation approach was used to capture and classify the discursive types and purposes of the staged MDMs. For the MDMs displayed, six higher-order categories and accompanied 14 sub-categories (codes) were detected. The teachers staged MDMs for student-led monitoring, continuously reminding the emergent conceptual flows to the students, forcing the students to be internally consistent in idea sharing, controlling, and organising conceptual/procedural discourse, modelling strategic thinking and reformulating. The teachers also displayed the MDMs with the purposes of framing and cognitive engaging, adjusting cognitive load, managing discursive tension and scaffolding internalisation. Recommendations were offered for science teacher education.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"20 1","pages":"70 - 104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82124799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lauri Heikonen, J. Pietarinen, A. Toom, T. Soini, K. Pyhältö
{"title":"The development of student teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom during teacher education","authors":"Lauri Heikonen, J. Pietarinen, A. Toom, T. Soini, K. Pyhältö","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1725603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1725603","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Teacher education needs to facilitate the development of student teachers’ capacity for active and skilful learning in classroom interaction, referred to as sense of professional agency in the classroom. It consists of motivation to learn, self-efficacy beliefs about learning, and strategies promoting one’s own and pupils’ learning in the classroom. However, not much is known about how student teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom develops during teacher education. This longitudinal study investigated the interrelations between the components of Finnish student teachers’ (N = 268) sense of professional agency in the classroom during teacher education. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data that was collected annually during the bachelor’s degree phase of primary school teacher education. The results showed that the construction of student teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom was based on being able to interpret and analyse classroom interaction and became more strongly related to their abilities to use peers, more experienced teachers, and pupils as resources in constructing supportive collaborative learning environments and developing functional engaging teaching methods. The findings suggest that professional agency in the classroom is a functional integrative concept for investigating student teacher learning and developing teacher education.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"367 1","pages":"114 - 136"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76439200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Yeo, Wai Lit Wong, Daniel K. C. Tan, Yann Shiou Ong, Alice Delserieys Pedregosa
{"title":"Using visual representations to realise the concept of “heat”","authors":"J. Yeo, Wai Lit Wong, Daniel K. C. Tan, Yann Shiou Ong, Alice Delserieys Pedregosa","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750674","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750674","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Science teachers often use visual images to help students visualise the abstract concepts of science. Yet, they may not support students in making sense of these visual representations, wrongly assuming that the students can intuitively do it on their own. Pre- and in-service teacher professional development programmes also seldom explicitly teach how visual representations can be purposefully selected and utilised to help students comprehend abstract concepts of science. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine how an elementary science teacher made use of visual representations to realise the meaning of the concept of “heat”, and to identify design considerations when using visual representations for concept teaching. Using multimodal analysis, the findings showed how the teacher orchestrated a sequence of ensembles of visual representations which bore conceptual, pedagogical, and epistemological roles in unpacking the concept of “heat” to facilitate his students’ understanding. The findings indicate the importance of teachers developing representation-content-pedagogical competences in order to select representations apt for the targeted content knowledge, the students’ profile, the learning environment, and the nature of the science.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"91 1","pages":"34 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75454482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resolving puzzling phenomena by the simple particle model: examining thematic patterns of multimodal learning and teaching","authors":"M. Cheng, Kristina Danielsson, Angel M. Y. Lin","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750675","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines the roles of multimodality and thematic patterns in the teaching of the particle model of matter. Although the particle model is a fundamental topic in science education, there is no consensus on (1) whether or not the model should be introduced in early grades and (2) how to introduce the model to students for the very first time. Drawing from teacher development projects in Sweden (Grade 3) and in Hong Kong (Grade 7), we suggest that the learning and teaching of the particle model can be facilitated by utilising a variety of modes. With multimodal scaffolding, Grade 3 students were able to demonstrate aspects of the particle model related to the expansion of gases in a warmer environment. The paper illustrates teaching episodes from the two projects in terms of (i) aspects of the particle model that were constructed using different semiotic modes, (ii) shifts in the salience of different modes in the teaching and learning process, and (iii) a thematic pattern that the classroom interactions adopted to explain puzzling phenomena. For a theoretical advancement, we suggest that thematic analysis should be extended to multimodal interactions.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"6 1","pages":"70 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87578639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wendy Nielsen, Annette Turney, H. Georgiou, Pauline Jones
{"title":"Working with multiple representations: preservice teachers’ decision-making to produce a digital explanation","authors":"Wendy Nielsen, Annette Turney, H. Georgiou, Pauline Jones","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750673","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750673","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A “digital explanation” is a science learning task where learners explain science content to non-expert others, in this case, the learners are primary preservice teachers [PST] in a science methods class. In the task, PST are assigned a prompt based on science content from the New South Wales K-6 syllabus and generate or source multiple representations to design and produce this stand-alone digital artefact. In this study, PST were interviewed about their decision making in producing the digital explanation, which offers insight into the design process and what makes for a successful product. Data include the digital explanations, interviews with nine PST, marking rubrics and rationale statements generated as part of the task. Thematic coding shows PST make design decisions for four principal reasons: content, engagement, clarity and unconscious selection. Decisions around content and engagement prevail and their decisions reveal keys to success in creating a digital explanation. We also note a tension between emphasis on engagement over content, which may reflect that the intended audience is young children and PST have a strong desire to gain and keep children’s interest.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"47 1","pages":"51 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74360453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multimodal science teaching and learning","authors":"J. Yeo, Wendy Nielsen","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1752043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1752043","url":null,"abstract":"The theme of this special issue is Multimodal Science Teaching and Learning. It brings together six papers that were originally presented at a seminar that took place at the International Science E...","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":"1 - 4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89561167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A representation construction pedagogy of guided inquiry for learning data modelling","authors":"R. Tytler, J. Ferguson, P. White","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750672","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750672","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Increasingly, learning in science and mathematics is considered in terms of induction into the multimodal language practices of the disciplinary community. A strong strand of research in this tradition has involved students being challenged to invent multimodal language forms, and their ideas refined through structured guidance. Often, however, research into these inquiry processes focuses on student learning, such that detailed descriptions of teaching strategies are not well represented in the literature. In this paper, we explore the nature of teacher orchestration of student learning in a guided-inquiry classroom sequence on the multimodal language of data modelling. The paper describes a classroom sequence in which nine-year-old students measure, invent, compare, and revise data displays to explore ideas about data variation related to their teacher’s arm span. Data included video capture of the teacher’s orchestration of tasks and classroom discussion, student artefacts, and teacher and student interviews. We examine the classroom processes, including task construction and individual, group and class discursive production, through which the teacher orchestrates students’ invention and revision of data displays. These patterns of discursive moves offer fresh insights into the ways in which teachers can support deeper levels of student learning of foundational multimodal science and mathematics literacy practices.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"72 1","pages":"18 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88497517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developing representational competence: linking real-world motion to physics concepts through graphs","authors":"T. Volkwyn, J. Airey, B. Gregorcic, C. Linder","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750670","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750670","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A social semiotic lens is used to characterise aspects of representational competence for a discipline such as physics, to provide science teachers with a practical suggestion about how student learning might be organised to develop representational competence. We suggest that representational competence for some areas of science can be characterised in terms of the ability to appropriately interpret and produce a set of disciplinary-scientific representations of real-world phenomena, and link these to scientific concepts. This is because many areas of science are based on creating scientific explanations of real-world observations. We then show how this characterisation may be applied by performing a social semiotic audit of what it entails to become representationally competent in one particular semiotic system (graphs) for one particular area of physics (1-D kinematics). Using this audit, we generate three open-ended tasks expected to help students develop representational competence in this area and empirically demonstrate their potential effectiveness. Building on this example, we suggest that our description of how a disciplinary social semiotic audit may be used to construct open-ended student learning tasks potentially provides one way for teachers to think about the development of representational competence in other semiotic systems and other areas of science.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"6 1","pages":"107 - 88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82946835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Talking to learn science: examining the role of teacher talk moves around visual representations to learn science","authors":"Jonathon Adams, T. Chin, P. Tan","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2020.1750671","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2020.1750671","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper was part of a larger study to examine one primary and one secondary teacher’s classroom. The study analysed the classroom discourse to describe the types of interaction and illustrate how the teachers used talk moves to mediate talk for learning science around visual representations (VRs). The study employed ethnographic approaches to collect and analyse classroom data as “snapshots of practice” in two Singapore classrooms. The findings identified that both teachers featured interactive/authoritative discourse, with the primary teacher using talk moves to unpack science terms through eliciting student observations of diagrams followed by talk moves for students to make connections to the meanings represented in the associated graph. The secondary teacher featured an interactive/dialogic approach, using talk moves around student-generated VRs for students to predict, reason and revise their representations. The findings highlighted the value of examining talk from dialogic and authoritative approaches to better understand how teachers provide opportunities for students to learn science through talk around VRs.","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":"19 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83688875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachel Tham, Z. Walker, Shi Hui Tan, L. Low, S. Annabel Chen
{"title":"Translating education neuroscience for teachers","authors":"Rachel Tham, Z. Walker, Shi Hui Tan, L. Low, S. Annabel Chen","doi":"10.1080/23735082.2019.1674909","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2019.1674909","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Translating Neuroscience to education involves providing accurate and simplified information about neuroscience to teachers. The aim of this research was to understand if providing translated abstracts from neuroscientific articles helped teachers understand content more thoroughly. Surveys, experimental manipulation, and focus group discussions were conducted with thirty teachers from two primary schools in Singapore. Teachers shared their familiarity with neuroscience, self-rated their understanding of neuroscientific abstracts, and provided feedback on the abstracts’ translations. Results indicate that translated abstracts did not improve attitudes significantly; however, focus group discussions revealed that teachers were more interested in the applications of neuroscience research in classroom pedagogy. These findings highlight the importance of improving communication between neuroscientists and educators. Abbreviations: TENC: Translational Education Neuroscience Clearinghouse; AEDs: Allied Educators","PeriodicalId":52244,"journal":{"name":"Learning: Research and Practice","volume":"78 1","pages":"149 - 173"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83347461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}