Toward a new conception of conceptions: Interplay of talk, gestures, and structures in the setting

Abstract

International audienceA major part of studies about students' conceptions and conceptual change exclusively is based on the analysis language, which is treated as a tool to make private contents of mind public to researchers. Following recent studies that focus (a) on language and discursive practice and (b) on the pragmatics of communication that draws on talk, gestures, and semiotic resources in the setting, we propose a redefinition of the nature of conception. Conceptions are understood as the simultaneously available speech, gestures, and contextual structures that cannot be reduced to verbal rendering because gestures and contextual structures constitute different modalities in the communication. Drawing on data collected during a physics unit about gas taught in French tenth-grade classrooms, we show why an appropriate account of conceptions requires (a) gestures simultaneously produced with talk and (b) identification of the relevant structures in the setting used by the participants as meaning-making (semiotic) resources. We propose to (a) reconceptualize the notion of conception by defining an "idea" as consisting of all relevant semiotic (meaning-making) resources publicly made available by a speaker (talk, gesture, context) and (b) consider conceptual change through the temporal evolution of ideas defined in this manner

Gesticulating science: Emergent bilingual students’ use of gestures

“…To summarize, the studies in monolingual classrooms provide information about how gestures are used in science class, and in doing so demonstrate the importance of gestures for enhancing communication for learning science generally (Carter et al, 2006;Givry & Roth, 2006;Hubber et al, 2010;Kress et al, 2001;Pozzer-Ardenghi & Roth, 2007). Hence, the significance of gestures for language learners is expected to be even greater.…”

“…To give some examples, Givry and Roth (2006) conducted a study to argue for the importance of other resources besides language when examining students' conceptions. The results, based on observations and interviews in two upper-secondary school physics classes, showed how students explained their conceptions about gases by using different resources, including gestures.…”

Studying Students' Learning Processes Used during Physics Teaching Sequence about Gas with Networks of Ideas and Their Domain of Applicability

“…The general argument is that we do not know what happens in the students' brain but we have easy access to their discourse (e.g. Edwards, 1993;Givry & Roth, 2006;Lemke, 1990;Saljo, 1999). We consider that, even if the points of view on the students' mind modelling are different, the analysis and the results on learning could be compatible and mutually reinforced.…”

“…In this way, a person can express an idea through: (a) different semiotic registers (text, graph, drawing, formula etc.) by writing (Duval, 1995) or (b) different semiotic resources (talk, gesture, salient elements of the setting) contained in discourse (Givry & Roth, 2006). Our current study focuses on talk, gesture and salient elements of the setting based on previous studies which demonstrate that students' speech cannot be understood without the contribution of gestures and salient elements in the setting (e.g.…”

“…Our current study focuses on talk, gesture and salient elements of the setting based on previous studies which demonstrate that students' speech cannot be understood without the contribution of gestures and salient elements in the setting (e.g. Givry & Roth, 2006;Goodwins, 2000;McNeil, 1985). These different modalities (talk, gesture and salient element) convey the whole meaning but in different and irreducible ways.…”