Measuring Time. Multilingual Elementary School Students’ Meaning-Making in Physics

Jakobson, Britt; Danielsson, Kristina; Axelsson, Monica; Uddling, Jenny

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-69197-8_11

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…As several researchers (c.f. Halliday and Martin 1993;Jakobson et al 2018;Schleppegrell 2004;Tang and Putra 2018;Tytler, Prain, and Hubber 2018) have pointed out difficulties within science education, it is of interest to study how language and multiple resources might support co-construction of science content in a multilingual classroom where students' varied proficiency in the language of instruction might be concealed from the teacher. With the purpose of studying how the content of sound is mediated in a lower secondary multilingual class, our research question is: How do the teacher and the multilingual students co-construct content of sound in classroom dialogues and through multiple resources?…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating science - building thematic patterns of the scientific concept sound in a Swedish multilingual lower secondary classroom

Axelsson

Jakobson

2020

Language and Education

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In this article we examine a teacher's and multilingual students' use of multiple resources and their potential for students' meaning-making of sound and sound transmission. Students were 14-15 years old, Swedish grade 8, speaking Swedish as a second language. We examine how different strategies and multiple resources interact in creating thematic patterns in a multilingual science classroom. Data comprise 64 hours of video-and audio recordings, digital photos, field-notes, textbooks, worksheets and student notebooks. As analytical tools we use thematic development strategies, control and social interaction strategies as well as strategies of bridging multiple resources. In co-constructing the content using various resources, thematic patterns were developed through a continuous shift between everyday and scientific language due to the teacher's awareness of the unit's abstract and technical content. Findings also reveal that a strategy of control performed by the teacher marked the importance of using 'physics words' . Strategies of social interaction accentuated by earlier experiences as well as personal and humorous connotations expressed in everyday language supported meaning-making. In addition, a number of multiple resources, such as models, gestures, bodily action, drawings, reading and writing were used.this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negotiating science - building thematic patterns of the scientific concept sound in a Swedish multilingual lower secondary classroom

Axelsson

Jakobson

2020

Language and Education

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“…This is viewed as a way to facilitate the students' understanding and development of the verbal language (spoken and written) [10,11] in particular when making meaning about complex or abstract phenomena. Research suggests that such practices may be beneficial for all students, but especially for those learning the language of instruction and content in parallel [9,12]. Thereto, mainly focusing on the verbal language demands of science (speech and writing), several studies have shown how science teachers in linguistically diverse classes (for a definition, see Materials and Methods) can increase the students' participation and learning opportunities by explicitly unpacking the language demands and by encouraging the students to express themselves scientifically [13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uddling [16] shows how the same teacher uses images and concrete objects to unpack textbooks texts, and how her explanations of seasons were gradually built up through a number of multimodal orchestrations, that is to say combinations of resources in different semiotic modes that form an entity. However, Jakobson and colleagues [12] reveal on the one hand how the multimodal interaction in the same science classroom offered the students increased opportunities to understand and to express the subject content through different semiotic resources. On the other hand, as not all of the semiotic resources appeared to increase students' meaning making, one pedagogic implication from that study is that teachers need to be aware of their own use of different semiotic resources as well as the ways in which they create opportunities for students to make meaning of the science content through different resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the above-mentioned studies reveal that the use of different semiotic resources offers the students increased learning opportunities when they are learning the language of instruction in parallel with subject content [16,17,29,33]. Some of the studies also reveal hindrances for learning, for example when the teachers appeared not to use semiotic resources in a thoughtful way [12,32]. In the above-mentioned studies, the use of other modes than speech and writing was not only seen as a way of supporting verbal language development (cf.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Signs of Learning—Multiple Modes as Support for Interaction in a Linguistically Diverse Physics Classroom

Danielsson

Uddling

2022

Education Sciences

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Students’ and teachers’ meaning making in science classrooms is dependent on language in a broad, multimodal, sense, comprising specialized lexicogrammar and ways of using semiotic resources such as models, diagrams, and subject specific symbols. Altogether, the multimodal demands of science can be challenging, in particular for students learning the language of instruction in parallel with the subject content. Yet, multimodal perspectives are scarce in research concerning science learning in linguistically diverse classrooms, where several students are educated in their second language. Drawing on designs for learning theory, the interaction in a linguistically diverse physics classroom was analyzed through the Learning Design Sequence model to investigate the teacher’s design for learning for students’ meaning-making about ‘sound’. Thereto, students’ ‘signs of learning’ regarding subject content and how to communicate content in line with the discourse of science was analyzed. The teacher’s design for learning gave the students opportunities to interact about content by use of different semiotic modes, with gradually higher demands regarding both content and how to express the content which appeared to support students’ development of content knowledge and competency to express this knowledge in line with the discourse of science. However, some of the teacher’s choices appeared to be a hindrance for the students.

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“…Science involves abstract concepts, complex processes, and the study of phenomena which cannot always be experienced directly by our senses. Although language plays an important role in the communication of science, the scientific discourse is characterised by multimodality (Lemke, 1998;Kress et al, 2001), where students' meaning making depends on their interaction with several semiotic resources (Danielsson, 2016;Jakobson et al, 2018;Kress et al, 2001;Lemke, 1998). In science, abstract and complex phenomena are therefore often described and explained through visual representations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing Multimodal Texts in Science—a Social Semiotic Perspective

2021

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Teaching and learning in science disciplines are dependent on multimodal communication. Earlier research implies that students may be challenged when trying to interpret and use different semiotic resources. There have been calls for extensive frameworks that enable analysis of multimodal texts in science education. In this study, we combine analytical tools deriving from social semiotics, including systemic functional linguistics (SFL), where the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions are central. In regard to other modes than writing—and to analyse how textual resources are combined—we build on aspects highlighted in research on multimodality. The aim of this study is to uncover how such a framework can provide researchers and teachers with insights into the ways in which various aspects of the content in multimodal texts are communicated through different semiotic resources. Furthermore, we aim to explore how different text resources interact and, finally, how the students, or authors of teaching resources, position themselves in relation to the subject. Data consist of one student text and one teaching resource text, both comprising drawn and written elements in combination with symbols. Our analyses of the student text suggest that the proposed framework can provide insights into students’ content knowledge and, hence, how construction of multimodal texts may be a useful tool for formative assessment. When it comes to teaching resources, the framework may be a useful tool for teachers when choosing resources, particularly in relation to students’ possibilities of meaning making when engaging with such texts, but also, as a basis for classroom discussions.

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Measuring Time. Multilingual Elementary School Students’ Meaning-Making in Physics

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

Negotiating science - building thematic patterns of the scientific concept sound in a Swedish multilingual lower secondary classroom

Negotiating science - building thematic patterns of the scientific concept sound in a Swedish multilingual lower secondary classroom

Signs of Learning—Multiple Modes as Support for Interaction in a Linguistically Diverse Physics Classroom

Analysing Multimodal Texts in Science—a Social Semiotic Perspective

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