Our previous research has demonstrated that students’ meaning-making of nature of science (NOS) involves different modes of representation, such as the visual, verbal, and written modes. As NOS ideas are interconnected, different modes could help students connect separate NOS ideas into a coherent picture. This book chapter presents one case of how seventh graders in Hong Kong connect individual scientific practices into a coherent picture of scientific methods using various modes of representation to reflect on their understanding of NOS. Multimodal discourse analysis was conducted on the video recording of students’ composition of NOS representations. Our findings show that students anchor their understanding of scientific practices to a more elaborated understanding of scientific methods. More importantly, students strategically rearranged the sequence of scientific practices by the visual and written modes to communicate a sequence of scientific methods alternative to the typical scientific method represented in science textbooks. Findings further suggest multimodal connections in students’ meaning making of NOS, as well as propose how teaching and learning can harness such multimodal connections in supporting students’ development of sophisticated NOS understanding.

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Students’ Multimodal Meaning Making of Nature of Science: From Isolated Scientific Practices to Coherent Scientific Methods

  • Kason Ka Ching Cheung,
  • Alis Oancea,
  • Sibel Erduran

摘要

Our previous research has demonstrated that students’ meaning-making of nature of science (NOS) involves different modes of representation, such as the visual, verbal, and written modes. As NOS ideas are interconnected, different modes could help students connect separate NOS ideas into a coherent picture. This book chapter presents one case of how seventh graders in Hong Kong connect individual scientific practices into a coherent picture of scientific methods using various modes of representation to reflect on their understanding of NOS. Multimodal discourse analysis was conducted on the video recording of students’ composition of NOS representations. Our findings show that students anchor their understanding of scientific practices to a more elaborated understanding of scientific methods. More importantly, students strategically rearranged the sequence of scientific practices by the visual and written modes to communicate a sequence of scientific methods alternative to the typical scientific method represented in science textbooks. Findings further suggest multimodal connections in students’ meaning making of NOS, as well as propose how teaching and learning can harness such multimodal connections in supporting students’ development of sophisticated NOS understanding.