Kristina Danielsson

Texts in chemistry
classrooms
Oslo Visions
19 May 2011
Kristina Danielsson
Department of Language Education, Stockholm
university
/
www.isd.su.se/danielsson_kristina
”Chemistry texts as a tool for
scientific learning
learning”
• Interdisciplinary project financed by the Swedish
Research council (2007-2010), studying
chemistry education in Finland-Swedish
Finland Swedish and
Swedish classrooms (year 8/9; 14-15 year-olds)
Stockholm/Linköping/Norrköping University
(linguists, chemists, pedagogues)
• Project leader: Inger Eriksson (SU/HiB)
Final report in press: Eriksson, I. (ed.) 2011. Kemiundervisning, text och textbruk i
finlandssvenska och svenska skolor – en komparativ studie. Stockholm: Stockholms
universitets förlag
”Chemistry texts as tools for
scientific learning
learning”
Project A
• Classroom practices in general (pedagogues):
what
h are the
h typical
i l practices
i
off the
h classrooms?
l
?
• Classroom practices focusing chemistry
(chemists/pedagogues)
• Assessment practices (chemists/pedagogues)
Project B
• Classroom practices focusing texts and text
use
Point of departure
• Becoming part of a new social context always
involves becoming part of the discourse used .
• To learn a new (school) subject involves a
gradual enculturation into the language of the
subject
The (
(verbal)
) language
g g of natural
sciences
”The evolution of science was, we maintain, the
evolution of scientific grammar.”
(Halliday & Martin 1993:12)
”…the
…the mastery of … science is in large part
mastery of its specialized ways of using
language.”
((Lemke 1990: 21))
Genres in natural sciences (eg.
(eg
Martin & Rose 2008), examples
• ”doing science”: procedure, recount of
procedures
• ”explain science”: causes, etc.
• ”organising
organising scientific knowledge
knowledge”:: description or
taxonomic rapport (’the atom consists of
protons, neutrons and electrons’)
• ”challenge science”: exposition, discussion
each genre with its specific features
The multimodality
y of scientific
language
(verbal language, pictures, mathematical/symbolical
language,
g g , etc.))
• “not only must students master each separate
disciplinary and media literacy at a high level, but
they must also learn to co-ordinate and articulate
multiple literacies simultaneously” (Lemke 2000)
Multiple literacies: teacher’s notes
Overall research question for text
project
• What possibilities are given the students to
become part of the (written) discourse of
science?
Data collection in the project
• Video recordings (teacher/focus students)
• Digital photographs of all text use (’literacy
events’, cf e.g. Barton) around focus students
• Collection of all texts used in the classrooms
• Interviews with teachers and focus students
around text use
Specific research questions
• What literacy events occur and what texts are
used in connection to them (extended,
(extended
multimodal concept of text)?
• To what extent can explicit text work be seen in
the classroom practice?
• What characterizes the texts students encounter
or produce in the classroom (SFG-analyses)?
• Differences between classrooms/countries?
E
Example
l off literacy
lit
eventt
Fred draws a model of the atom on the blackboard and talks about
its structure
”Dialogue” in connection to the literacy event
• T: There are two central parts of the atom .. One is central
and the other one is not so central, something in the middle
and
d something
h
around
d it/…/
/ / iff i draw
d
a small
ll model
d l here
h
..
these two parts /…/ what do we call this (points at the
middle of the drawing)?
• S: nucleus
• T: yes.
yes nucleus.
nucleus And what do we call this (points at the
’electronic cloud’)?
• S: atom
• T: electrons. This electronic cloud around this atom .. It
swirls around in a high speed, not in specific orbits (int i
speciella banor) but at a certain distance . They swirl around
freely around and around (makes gestures at the same time
as he
h draws)
d
) (Fred
(F d F2,
F2 lesson
l
2)
Analyses
• Distinguish recurring ’acitivities involving text
use’ from literacy events
• Map what kinds of texts that are used and
analyse to what extent e.g. metatextual work is
going on
• Text analyses (SFL, both for verbal texts and
pictures e.g.
pictures,
e g Halliday 2004,
2004 Kress & van
Leeuwen 2006)
• later: greater focus on different semiotic
resources, e.g. Danielsson, 2011
Results: Recurring activities
involving texts
• Teacher’s exposition of new content (”theory”)
• Experimental work
• Answer questions from e.g. textbook
• ”Private” text use (not further analysed)
– Typical side activity for short time and in parallel with
other activities
Activities involving text
• Teacher’s exposition of new content
– Teacher ”lectures” and makes written notes on
blackboard (verbal and pictures), students copy
notes into their notebooks, use of periodic chart
• Experimental work
– Teacher’s oral or written (blackboard) instructions
(S, FS), copied by students (FS)
– Students read labels etc., make short notes (FS)
– Teacher review on blackboard, copied by students
(FS)
– (Students write experimental reports)
Activities involving text
• Working with (textbook) questions
– Students work individually or in pairs: quick reading
searching for answers, reading of own or
classmates notes, writing few words or short
phrases/drawing
h
/d
i models
d l in
i notebook
t b k
– (runthrough of questions: teacher makes blackboard
notes,, students copy/make
py
complements
p
in
notebooks)
Students’ note taking
• Mostly more or less direct copies of teachers’
notes
Students’ notes: signs of learning,
signs of difficulties
• A scrutiny of students’ ”copies” from teachers’
blackboard notes revealed that
– some students (though very seldom) added
information that made the notes more useful than
the teachers’ original
– some students were so close to the teachers’ notes
that they copied teacher mistakes,
mistakes and sometimes
mis-spellings revealed clear signs of difficulties (like
’the nucleus’ (Swe ’kärnan”) > ’the corner’ (Swe
hörnan )
’hörnan’)
Metaphors
p
in the classrooms
• Metaphors part of classroom discourse and
textbook texts ((’electronic
electronic cloud
cloud’, atoms that
want to have or give away electrons, etc.)
• Especially in classroom practice, atoms and ions
are talked about as having human feelings, etc.
• If teachers use metaphors in blackboard notes,
students copy these (e.g. noble gases have
”reached their Nirvana”)
Genres in the classrooms
• ”doing science”: procedure, recount of
procedures (seldom,
(seldom only stages/parts)
• ”explaining science”: causes, etc. (scarcely – in
textbook which is seldom used in the classroom)
• ”organising scientific knowledge”: description or
taxonomic rapport (’the atom consists of
protons, neutrons and electrons’) (scarcely, but
to some extent in blackboard notes)
• ”challenge science”: exposition, discussion
(never)
Metatextual discussions
• Very unusal (regardless of activity), and they
deal with the surface level
– ”it’s important that you write this down”
– ”write ’working
g with ions’ as a heading
g to make it
easier to find”
– ”do we have to write?”, ”now you have to write down
a few things
things”
– ”I try to be as symmetrical as possible”, ”you must
understand that this is a simplified model”
– ”I read the text but I couldn’t understand” >> ”but
those of you who did read?”
Similarities/differences FS – S,
some tentative conclusions
• No great differences, but
– In all classrooms students are reading and writing
with ”tweezers” (cf. Lövland), especially in FS
classrooms
– Teachers combine their oral expositions with written
notes on the blackboard – more structured in FS;
students always
y copy
py in FS
– FS classrooms overall more similar to each other
than are Swedish classrooms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
LIST OF PUBLICATION FROM THE PROJECT
Berg A.,
Berg,
A Löfgren
Löfgren, R.,
R & Eriksson,
Eriksson I.
I (2007).
(2007) Kemiinnehåll i undervisningen för nybörjare.
nybörjare
En studie av hur ämnesinnehållet får konkurrera med målet att få eleverna intresserade av
naturvetenskap. Nordina 3 (2).
Berg, A., Eriksson, I., & Löfgren, R. (2010). Observationer i kemiklassrummet – en studie
om att lära sig se kemiska reaktioner. Ingår i I. Eriksson (red.) Innehållet i fokus –
kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska klassrum. SKIP-rapport 8. Stockholms Universitets
Förlag.
Danielsson, K. (2010): Chemistry learning – text use and text talk in one Finland-Swedish
chemistry classroom. I: IARTEM e-journal 3(2).
Danielsson, K. (2010). Läsa kemi – textanvändning och textsamtal i ett finlandssvenskt
kemiklassrum. Ingår i I. Eriksson (red.) Innehållet i fokus – kemiundervisning i
finlandssvenska klassrum. SKIP-rapport 8. Stockholms Universitets Förlag.
Danielsson, K. (2011). ”Då blir de fulla och glada”. Multimodala representationer av
atommodellen i kemiklassrum. Ingår i B. Aamotsbakken, J. Smidt & E. Seip Tønnessen
(red ) Tekst og tegn.
(red.).
tegn Trondheim: Tapir Akademisk Forlag.
Forlag (preliminär titel)
Danielsson, K. (2011): Text och textanvändning i svenska och finlandssvenska klassrum.
Ingår i I. Eriksson (red.): Kemiundervisning, text och textbruk i finlandssvenska och
svenska skolor – en komparativ tvärvetenskaplig studie. Stockholm: Stockholms
universitets förlag. (preliminär titel)
Danielsson, K. & Ekvall, U. (2008). Kemi som skriftspråkspraktik
å
i svenska och
finlandssvenska skolor – en projektpresentation. Ingår i M. Lindgren m.fl. (red.). Femte
nationella konferensen i svenska med didaktisk inriktning. Forskningens tillämpning i
skolan. Växjö den 29-30 november 2007. Växjö University Press. S. 43–54.
Ekvall,, U. ((2011):
) Svenska och finska läroböcker i kemi. I: I. Eriksson ((red.):
)
Kemiundervisning, text och textbruk i finlandssvenska och svenska skolor – en komparativ
tvärvetenskaplig studie. Stockholm: Stockholms universitets förlag. (preliminär titel)
Ekvall, Ulla. (2011). Lärobokstext och kemilektion. I: Amnert N. (red) Att spegla världen.
Läromedelsstudier i teori och praktik. s. 117-138
Ekvall Ulla
Ekvall,
Ulla. 2010
2010. Läroboken i ett kemiklassrum.
kemiklassrum I: Falk,
Falk C.,
C Nord,
Nord A.
A & Palm,
Palm R.
R (red)
Svenskans beskrivning 30. Stockholm: Institutionen för nordiska språk vid Stockholms
universitet. S. 70-81
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ekvall, Ulla & Berg,
Ekvall
Berg Astrid (2010).
(2010) Lärobok och kemipraktik
kemipraktik. Ingår i I.
I Eriksson
(red.) Innehållet i fokus – kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska klassrum. SKIPrapport 8. Stockholms Universitets Förlag.
Eriksson, I. (red.) (2010). Innehållet i fokus – kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska
klassrum. SKIP-rapport 8. Stockholms Universitets Förlag.
E ik
Eriksson,
II. (red.)
( d ) (2011).
(2011) Kemiundervisning,
K
i d
i i
text
t t och
h ttextbruk
tb k i finlandssvenska
fi l d
k
och svenska skolor – en komparativ tvärvetenskaplig studie. För utgivning på
Stockholms Universitets Förlag.
Eriksson, I., Ståhle, Y., & Lindberg V. (2011) Tre undervisningspraktiker i
svenska och finlandssvenska kemiklassrum. Ingår i I. Eriksson (red).
Kemiundervisning, text och textbruk i finlandssvenska och svenska skolor – en
komparativ tvärvetenskaplig studie. (manus)
Eriksson, I., Berg, A., Danielsson, K., Ekvall, U., Lindberg, V., Löfgren, R., &
Ståhle, Y. (2010). Vilket kemiinnehåll görs tillgängligt i finlandssvenska och
svenska klassrum? Ingår i Resultatdialog,
Resultatdialog 2010
2010. Vetenskapsrådets rapportserie,
rapportserie
1651-7350.
Lindberg, V. & Löfgren, R. (2010). Provkonstruktion och bedömning som aspekter
av kemilärares bedömningspraktik. Ingår i I. Eriksson (red.) Innehållet i fokus –
kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska klassrum. SKIP-rapport 8. Stockholms
Universitets Förlag.
Förlag
Lindberg, V. & Löfgren, R. (2010). Vilket kemikunnande efterfrågas och görs
tillgängligt för eleverna? – Frågor, svar och feedback i kemiklassrummet. Ingår i
I. Eriksson (red.) Innehållet i fokus – kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska
klassrum. SKIP-rapport 8. Stockholms Universitets Förlag.
Lindberg, V. & Löfgren, R. (2011). Prov, vitsord och bedömning som aspekter av
kemilärares bedömningspraktik. Konferensrapport från Ämnesdidaktisk konferens
i Linköping, 2010. In press.
Ståhle, Y. (2010). En minnestränande undervisningspraktik. Ingår i I. Eriksson
(red.) Innehållet i fokus – kemiundervisning i finlandssvenska klassrum. SKIP
SKIPrapport 8. Stockholms Universitets Förlag.