On Discerning Critical Elements, Relationships and Shifts in Attaining Scientific Terms: The Challenge of Polysemy/Homonymy and Reference

Abstract

Words with well-known meaning in colloquial language often make up an educational challenge when introduced as terms with formal scientific meaning. New connections must be established between the word, already constrained by existing meaning and reference, and the intended formal scientific meaning and reference. A twodimensional semantic/semiotic analysing schema (acronym 2-D SAS) has been developed to clarify a given word/term in a structured mode both according to non-formal senses and referents and formal scientific meaning and referents. The schema is constructed on ideas from semantics, semiotics and history and philosophy of science. The approach is supposed to be a contribution to make a fine-gained analysis of the structure and dynamics of conceptual change. The role of referents and referent change in conceptual change is highlighted by analysing the character of the recurrent mix-up of the terms heat and temperature among students at different educational levels.

Arrows in Biology: Lack of Clarity and Consistency Points to Confusion for Learners

“…When similarly styled symbols are used for different purposes, they cause confusion for the learner ( Ametller and Pintó, 2002 ). Our work also revealed instances of polysemy, when differently styled arrows are used to represent the same concept or process ( Strömdahl, 2012 ). Polysemy can result in learners having to discover a new meaning for the same symbol, sometimes within the same figure, which is also confusing.…”

Linguistic Challenges in Mendelian Genetics: Teachers’ Talk in Action

“…Therefore, educators should pay careful attention to this specific language so that students fully understand and are not left behind (Hand et al., ). It has also been argued that teachers should clarify the different meanings of words that have different meanings in everyday language and science (Strömdahl, ). We think it would be useful to learners if teachers were more explicit about how different words relate to one other.…”

A Framework for Defining Scientific Concepts in Science Education

“…In addition, Bunge's schemes are neither comprehensive nor practical, because he mainly proposed a general need for theoretical and empirical information, without any specific features of definitions. One way to identify such features is to look at the definitional problems that have plagued scientists and science educators: precision, consistency, circularity, and comprehensiveness (Galili & Lehavi, 2006;Quílez, 2009;Strömdahl, 2012).…”

“…Scientific concepts are often inconsistently defined in different fields or within a field (Doige & Day, 2012;Strömdahl, 2012). This problem is sometimes discussed in terms of the linguistic concept of polysemy, which means that one word is used with two or more related meanings (Strömdahl, 2012). For instance, studies have shown that students learning biology concurrently with physics and/or chemistry are commonly confused by the concept of energy (Gayford, 1986).…”