Students’ Meaning-Making of Nutrient Uptake in Relation to Organizational Levels

Alma Jahic Pettersson; Carl-Johan Rundgren; Lena A.E. Tibell

doi:10.16993/dfl.175

Students’ Meaning-Making of Nutrient Uptake in Relation to Organizational Levels

Designs for Learning

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 1

By: Alma Jahic Pettersson , Carl-Johan Rundgren and Lena A.E. Tibell

Open Access

|Mar 2022

Abstract

Previous research suggests that everyday expressions are commonly used in students’ descriptions of nutrient uptake. This study investigate a classroom context in year 5 with a focus on signs of scientific meaning-making about nutrient uptake with an animation as a resource in two different schools. In one of the schools there was also a teacher review. The aim of this study is to investigate the pedagogical affordances of scientific terms and everyday expressions in the animation and in classroom teaching. Further, students’ signs of scientific meaning-making at the meso and submicro organizational level in group discussions and written descriptions are analyzed and if taking part of a teacher review influenced the students’ use of scientific terms and everyday expressions.The results show that the students who had a teacher review use everyday expressions at the meso and submicro level to a greater extent than the students who did not have an teacher review. The everyday expressions are often used as a kind of translation from the scientific terms in the students’ drawings.

References

Airey, J. (2015). Social Semiotics in Higher Education: Examples from teaching and learning in undergraduate physics. In: SACF Singapore-Sweden Excellence Seminars, Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research in Higher Education (STINT), 2015 (pp. 103).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Airey, J., & Eriksson, U. (2019). Unpacking the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram: A Social Semiotic Analysis of the Disciplinary and Pedagogical Affordances of a Central Resource in Astronomy. Designs for Learning, 11(1), 99–107. DOI: 10.16993/dfl.137
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Aikenhead, G. (1996). Science education: Border crossing into the subculture of science. Studies in Science Education, 27(1), 1–52. DOI: 10.1080/03057269608560077
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2009). A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching: The Official Journal of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, 46(1), 27–49. DOI: 10.1002/tea.20265
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Assaraf, O. B. Z., Dodick, J., & Tripto, J. (2013). High school students’ understanding of the human body system. Research in Science Education, 43(1), 33–56. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-011-9245-2
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Barnett, J. (1992). Language in the science Classroom: Some issues for Teachers. The Australian Science Teachers Journal, 38(4), 8–13.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bellocchi, A., & Ritchie, S. M. (2011). Investigating and theorizing discourse during analogy writing in chemistry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(7), 771–792. DOI: 10.1002/tea.20428
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2008). Writing in multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication, 25(2), 166–195. DOI: 10.1177/0741088307313177
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bohlin, G., Göransson, A., Höst, G. E., & Tibell, L. A. (2017). A conceptual characterization of online videos explaining natural selection. Science & Education, 26(7), 975–999. DOI: 10.1007/s11191-017-9938-7
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Broman, K., Ekborg, M., & Johnels, D. (2011). Chemistry in crisis? Perspectives on teaching and learning chemisry in Swedish upper secondary scool. NorDiNa, 7(1), 43–60. DOI: 10.5617/nordina.245
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cakici, Y. (2005). Exploring Turkish upper primary level pupils’ understanding of digestion. International Journal of Science Education, 27(1), 79–100. DOI: 10.1080/0950069032000052036
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Carvalho, G. S., Silva, R., Lima, N., Coquet, E., & Clément, P. (2004). Portuguese primary school children’s conceptions about digestion: Identification of learning obstacles. International Journal of Science Education, 26(9), 1111–1130. DOI: 10.1080/0950069042000177235
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Chandrasegaran, A., Treagust, D. F., & Mocerino, M. (2011). Facilitating High School Students’ Use of Multiple Representations to Describe and Explain Simple Chemical Reactions. Teaching Science, 57(4), 13–20.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cokelez, A. (2012). Junior high school students’ ideas about the shape and size of the atom. Research in Science Education, 42(4), 673–686. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-011-9223-8
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2000). Designs for social futures. Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 203–234).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Danielsson, K., & Selander, S. (2016). Reading multimodal texts for learning – A model for cultivating multimodal literacy. Designs for Learning, 8(1), 25–36. DOI: 10.16993/dfl.72
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Garcia-Barros, S., Martínez-Losada, C., & Garrido, M. (2011). What do children aged four to seven know about the digestive system and the respiratory system of the human being and of other animals? International Journal of Science Education, 33(15), 2095–2122. DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2010.541528
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Granklint Enochson, P. (2008). Elevers föreställningar om kroppens organ och kroppens hälsa utifrån ett skolsammanhang (Doctoral dissertation, Linköping university).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Harrison, A. G., & Treagust, D. F. (2000). A typology of school science models. International journal of science education, 22(9), 1011–1026. DOI: 10.1080/095006900416884
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Heinrich, S., & Kupers, R. (2019). Complexity as a Big Idea for Secondary Education: Evaluating a Complex Systems Curriculum, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 36(1) 100–110. DOI: 10.1002/sres.2547
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hipkiss, A. M. (2014). Klassrummets semiotiska resurser. En språkdidaktisk studie av skolämnena hem- och konsumentkunskap, kemi och biologi. (Doktorsavhandling), Umeå universitet, Umeå.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jacobsen, M. J., & Archodidou, A. (2000). The Design of Hypermedia Tools for Learning: Fostering Conceptual Change and Transfer of Complex Scientific Knowledge, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(2), 145–199. DOI: 10.1207/s15327809jls0902_2
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jahic Pettersson, A., Danielsson, K., & Rundgren, C.-J. (2020). ‘Traveling nutrients’: how students use metaphorical language to describe digestion and nutritional uptake. International Journal of Science Education. DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2020.1756514
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jahic Pettersson, A., Danielsson, K. & Rundgren, C.-J. (forthcoming) The affordances of metaphors in meaning-making of nutrient uptake in middle school.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jahic Pettersson, A., Tibell, L., & Löfgren, R. (2021). ‘The brain needs nutrition’: pupils’ connections between organizational levels. NorDiNa, 17(1), 48–63. DOI: 10.5617/nordina.7930
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jenkinson. 2012. Visualizing the Complexity of the Molecular World: Examining the Role of Animated Representations in the Development of Undergraduate Students’ Understanding of Dynamic Cellular Events, Thesis, Toronto University. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/32748
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jewitt, C., Bezemer, J. J., & O’Halloran, K. L. (2016). Introducing multimodality. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781315638027
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Jördens, J., Asshoff, R., Kullmann, H., & Hammann, M. (2016). Providing vertical coherence in explanations and promoting reasoning across levels of biological organization when teaching evolution. International Journal of Science Education, 38(6), 960–992. DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2016.1174790
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Klein, P. D., & Kirkpatrick, L. C. (2010). Multimodal literacies in science: Currency, coherence and focus. Research in Science Education, 40(1), 87–92. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-009-9159-4
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Knippels, M. C. P. J. (2002). Coping with the abstract and complex nature of genetics in biology education: The yo-yo learning and teaching strategy. (Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kozma, R. (2003). The material features of multiple representations and their cognitive and social affordances for science understanding. Learning and Instruction, 13(2), 205–226. DOI: 10.1016/S0959-4752(02)00021-X
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kozma, R., Chin, E., Russell, J., & Marx, N. (2000). The roles of representations and tools in the chemistry laboratory and their implications for chemistry learning. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(2), 105–143. DOI: 10.1207/s15327809jls0902_1
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality. A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London: Routledge.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lemke, J. (1998). Teaching all the languages of science: words, symbols, images and actions.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lemke, J. L. (1990). Talking science: Language, learning, and values. London: Ablex Publishing.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Meijer, M. (2011). Macro-meso-micro thinking with structure-property relations for chemistry education: an explorative design based study. (Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Mortimer, E., & Scott, P. (2003). Meaning making in secondary science classrooms. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
NTA Skolutveckling. (26 april 2021). Tema kroppen. https://ntaskolutveckling.nu/teman/kroppen/
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Olander, C. (2009). Towards an interlanguage of biological evolution: exploring students’ talk and writing as an arena for sense-making. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Gothenburg).
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Olander, C., Wickman, P.-O., Tytler, R., & Ingerman, Å. (2018). Representations as mediation between purposes as junior secondary science students learn about the human body. International Journal of Science Education, 40(2), 204–226. DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2017.1407464
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2014). Implications of cognitive load theory for multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed., pp. 27–42). New York: Cambridge University. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139547369.004
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Prain, V. (2004). The role of language in science learning and literacy. i C. S. In, B. Hand Wallace & V. Prain (Eds.), Writing and learning in the science classroom (s. 33–45). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-2018-6_4
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rowlands, M. (2004). What do children think happens to the food they eat? Journal of Biological Education, 38(4), 167–171. DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2004.9655936
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rundgren, C.-J., & Tibell, L. (2010). Critical Features of Visualizations of Transport through the Cell Membrane – An Empirical Study of Upper Secondary and Tertiary Students’ Meaning-Making of a Still Image and an Animation. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 8(2), 223–246. DOI: 10.1007/s10763-009-9171-1
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Sabelli, N. H. (2006). Complexity, Tehnology Science and Education. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(1) 5–9. DOI: 10.1207/s15327809jls1501_3
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Schönborn, K. J., & Anderson, T. R. (2006). The importance of visual literacy in the education of biochemists. Biochemistry and molecular biology education, 34(2), 94–102. DOI: 10.1002/bmb.2006.49403402094
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Selander, S., & Kress, G. (2010). Design för lärande – ett multimodalt perspektiv. Stockholm: Norstedts Akademiska Förlag.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Snapir, Z., Eberbach, C., Ben-Zvi-Assaraf, O., Hmelo-Silver, C., & Tripto, J. (2017). Characterising the development of the understanding of human body systems in high-school biology students– a longitudinal study. International Journal of Science Education, 39(15), 2092–2127. DOI: 10.1080/09500693.2017.1364445
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Swedish National Agency of Education. (2011). Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare 2011. Retrieved from https://www.skolverket.se/publikationer?id=3984
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Talanquer, V. (2009). On cognitive constraints and learning progressions: The case of “structure of matter”. International Journal of Science Education, 31(15), 2123–2136. DOI: 10.1080/09500690802578025
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tang, K. S., Delgado, C., & Moje, E. B. (2014). An integrative framework for the analysis of multiple and multimodal representations for meaning-making in science education. Science education, 98(2), 305–326. DOI: 10.1002/sce.21099
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Teixeira, F. M. (2000). What happens to the food we eat? Children’s conceptions of the structure and function of the digestive system. International Journal of Science Education, 22(5), 507–520. DOI: 10.1080/095006900289750
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tibell, L., & Rundgren, C.-J. (2010). Educational Challenges of Molecular Life Science- Characteristics and implications for education and research. CBE: Life Sciences Education, 9(1) 25–33. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.08-09-0055
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tsui, C.-Y., & Treagust, D. F. (2013). Introduction to multiple representations: Their importance in biology and biological education. In D. F. Treagust & C.-Y. Tsui (Eds.), Multiple representations in biological education (pp. 3–18). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-4192-8_1
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tversky, B., Morrison, J.-B., & Betrancourt, M. (2002). Animation: Can it facilitate? International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 57, 247–262. DOI: 10.1006/ijhc.2002.1017
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
van Mil, M. H. W., Postma, P. A., Boerwinkel, D. J., Klaassen, K., & Waarlo, A. J. (2016). Molecular mechanistic reasoning: Toward bridging the gap between the molecular and cellular levels in life science education. Science Education, 100(3), 517–585. DOI: 10.1002/sce.21215
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Verhoeff, R. P., Knippels, M. C. P., Gilissen, M. G., & Boersma, K. T. (2018). The theoretical nature of systems thinking. Perspectives on systems thinking in biology education. I Frontiers in Education (Vol. 3, s. 40). Frontiers. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00040
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Vetenskapsrådet. (2017). God forskningssed. (Reviderad utgåva). Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wu, H. K., Krajcik, J. S., & Soloway, E. (2001). Promoting understanding of chemical representations: Students’ use of a visualization tool in the classroom. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(7), 5821–5842. DOI: 10.1002/tea.1033
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.175 | Journal eISSN: 2001-7480

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 29 - 45

Submitted on: May 21, 2021

Accepted on: Jan 19, 2022

Published on: Mar 8, 2022

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

biology,

chemistry,

science education,

everyday expressions,

scientific terms,

group discussions

© 2022 Alma Jahic Pettersson, Carl-Johan Rundgren, Lena A.E. Tibell, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 1