B.IV.1
Story horror
Darr
The Mall
by Suchindra
Asia's largest mall is ready for inauguration, although there's a myth
surrounding the mall. There have been nine accidental deaths in the mall and
the owners are sick of the stories about the mall being haunted. So they decide
to re-launch their mall in a grand way. This is when the lead hero of the film
Jimmy Shergill (Vishnu Sharma) enters.
He is an ex-army officer but lends up becoming the chief security officer
of the Amity Mall. On the opening eve the owner of the mall, Mr. Manchanda
calls a press conference and to dispel the fears announces that he would spend
a night at the Mall with the board of directors.
Manchanda and his cronies step into the Mall to spend a night and this to
Manchanda is a big business strategy.
Manchanda and group are not the
only ones to be inside the Mall this night. Manchanda's daughter Ahana and her
friends make their way inside, as wells as Vishnu, the chief of security at the
Mall who has a past that haunts him. Facts come clear only by the end when
circumstances throw Vishnu, Manchanda and Ahana together. Their stories connect
and lead to a mysterious past.
Comic
Magazine about healthy
Article about smoking
that
hard to break. However, these habits seem to need to be stopped from smoking at
the beginning of the day is more dangerous than smoking on the day or
night. Research shows thatsmoking after waking up would increase the risk of
lung cancer, neck and head. "Morning
smokers”
have high levels of nicotine and other toxins from tobacco
on
his body.
They
are alsomore addicted than smokers who refrained from smoking a half hour or so
after waking up," saidresearcher Joshua Muscat of Penn State College of
Medicine. To find out why some smokers getcancer and not, Muscat and his team
examined the link between cancer risk is there with thehabit of first cigarette
in the morning.
The
first study involved 4775 patients with lung cancer and 2835 of other
smokers without lung cancer. Those who smoke 30 minutes after waking up1.79
times higher risk of suffering from lung cancer than those who waited more than
60minutes. Meanwhile, those who smoked 31-60 minutes after waking up had 1.31
times the risk compared to those who wait at least an hour. The second
study involved 1055 people with brainand neck cancer and 795 people who smoked
but did not suffer brain and neck cancer. Thosewho smoked within 30 minutes
when you wake up 1.59 times the risk of brain and neck cancer compared
with those who waited an hour. The risk of smokers who smoked 31-60 minutes
after waking up 1.42 times than those who wait at least an hour.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL OF LEARNING
Volume
10, 2003
Article:
LC03-0264-2003
Science
Education in Primary and Secondary
Level
An
Analysis of the Discursive Transitions across
Different
Modalities of the Pedagogic Discourse
Vasilis
Koulaidis and Costas Dimopoulos
WHAT LEARNING
MEANS: Proceedings of the Learning Conference 2003
Edited
by Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope
International Journal of Learning
Volume 10, 2003
This journal and individual papers published at http://LearningConference.Publisher-Site.com/
a series imprint of theUniversityPress.com
First published in Australia in 2003-2005 by Common Ground Publishing
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Cope 2003-2005
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ISSN 1447-9494 (Print)
ISSN 1447-9540 (Online)
The International Journal of Learning is a peer-refereed journal
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are refereed by the Associate Editors through an anonymous referee
process.
Papers presented at the Tenth International Literacy and Education
Research Network Conference on Learning.
Institute of Education, University of London 15-18 July 2003
Editors
Mary Kalantzis, Faculty of Education,
Language and Community Services, RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia.
Bill Cope, Centre for Workplace Communication and Culture, Australia.
Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Learning
Michael
Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
David
Barton, Director, Literacy Research Centre, Lancaster University, UK.
Ruth
Finnegan, Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University, UK.
James Paul
Gee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Kris
Gutierrez, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Roz Ivanic,
Lancaster University, UK.
Carey
Jewitt, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
Andeas
Kazamias, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.
Gunther
Kress, Institute of Education, University of London.
Sarah
Michaels, Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education, Clark University,
Massachusetts,
USA.
Denise
Newfield, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Ambigapathy
Pandian, School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang,
Malaysia.
Miguel A.
Pereyra, University of Granada, Spain.
Scott
Poynting, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
Michel
Singh, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
Pippa
Stein, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Brian
Street, King’s College, University of London, UK.
Gella
Varnava-Skoura , Department of Early Childhood Education, National and
Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Greece.
Nicola Yelland, Head,
Department of School and Early Childhood Education, RMIT
University,
Australia.
Wang
Yingjie, School of Education, Beijing Normal University, China.
Zhou Zuoyu, School
of Education, Beijing Normal University, China.
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10 • www.LearningConference.Publisher-Site.com
Copyright © Common
Ground ISSN 1447-9494 (Print) • ISSN 1447-9540 (Online)
Paper presented at
the Tenth International Literacy and Education Research Network Conference on
Learning.
Institute of
Education, University of London 15-18 July 2003 • www.LearningConference.com
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
An Analysis of the
Discursive Transitions across Different
Modalities of the Pedagogic
Discourse
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
Abstract
The aim of this
paper is the mapping of the discursive transitions in school science
from the primary to
the secondary level as reflected in the corresponding
textbooks. Our basic
hypothesis is that the pedagogic discourse is constructed by
the interplay of
three basic dimensions, namely classification, formality and
framing which
correspond to the content specialization, the codes’ elaboration and
the agency of
control of the pedagogical process respectively. According to our
model each dimension
can only take two values; either high (strong) or low
(weak).
Specifically, strong classification corresponds to subject matter
epistemologically
distinct from other than the scientific forms of knowledge, while
weak classification
means that the subject-matter is a mixture of elements derived
from various
knowledge domains. Furthermore, high formality corresponds to
specialized codes
that define reality in terms of abstractions and scientific
conventions while
low formality corresponds to codes resembling the vernacular
ways of expression.
Finally, strong classification means that the addresser of
scientific knowledge
(e.g. science teacher or textbook’s voice) has full control over
the determination of
the conditions of the pedagogical process while weak
classification means
that at least some important aspects of this process are open
to negotiation
between the latter and the students.
The combination of
values of classification, formality and framing produces
eight different
pedagogic modalities, which are labeled as follows:
1. Esoteric
authoritarian (strong classification, high formality, strong
framing)
2. Esoteric liberal
(strong classification, high formality, weak framing)
3. Metaphorical
authoritarian (strong classification, low formality, strong
framing)
4. Metaphorical
liberal (strong classification, low formality, weak framing)
5. Mythical
authoritarian (weak classification, high formality, strong framing)
6. Mythical liberal
(weak classification, high formality, weak framing)
7. Public
authoritarian (weak classification, low formality, strong framing)
8. Public liberal
(weak classification, low formality, weak framing)
These modalities
will be used so as to map the discursive transition in school
science from the
primary to the secondary level as this transition is at least
realized by the
variation in the characteristics of the corresponding science
textbooks.
Specifically, the discursive characteristics related to the pedagogical
notions of
classification, formality and framing and projected by the linguistic and
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10, 2003
3264
the visual mode
respectively are analysed in all the science textbooks used at the
primary and
secondary level of the Greek educational system. Finally, the
emerging path is
discussed in the light of its pedagogic implications.
Introduction
The aim of this paper is
the mapping of the discursive transitions in school science
from the primary to the
secondary level as reflected in the corresponding
textbooks. In this study
school science textbooks are considered as means of
regulating the pedagogic
discourse of each of the educational levels they are used
to and therefore as a
mirror of the pedagogic transitions in science education that
occur when moving form the
primary to the lower secondary level. This kind of
approach stems from the
view that science education (and education in general) is
a socialization process
into the practices and conventions (i.e. the discourses) of
sub-communities, in our
case of the scientific community (Lemke, 1990). Within
the framework of this view,
science textbooks have a central role to play in this
socialising process as a
resource for shared meaning making (Halliday, 1978;
Lemke, 1990; Bazerman,
1998).
The Issue of Textbooks
in the Science Education Literature
The issue of school science
textbooks has been a major research topic within the
science education research
tradition. During the seventies texbooks’ readibility
studies were quite popular
but interest in them gradually faded, mainly due to
concerns about their
validity, particularly for use in specialized texts. The interest
though for science
textbooks as a research topic has been sustained since a
literature search in the
ERIC database for studies on the school science textbooks
in the period 1985-2002
revealed 222 relevant studies. These studies can be
grouped, according to their
particular focus, into the following categories: (a)
studies which focus on
elements of textbooks, such as the content, vocabulary,
illustrations used, and the
teaching methods promoted which are treated as
simplified
"castings" of the scientific structure; and (b) those considering the
principles that organize
the content and the form of presentation by conceiving
textbooks as texts playing
a crucial role in the determination of practices and social
positions within the
pedagogic discourse (Koulaidis and Tsatsaroni, 1996). As
pointed out by Koulaidis
and Tsatsaroni, (1996) ‘in attempting to consider the
sorts of principles
that may be used in the studies categorised under (b), two
crucial issues are
discussed. The first issue refers to the relationship between
scientific knowledge
and school knowledge…. The second issue explicitly
addresses the nature
of the pedagogic relationship and the place of the pedagogic
text within it’ (p.1)
This study belongs in the
second of the two aforementioned categories of
studies, since it aims at
addressing both the issue of the relationship between
scientific knowledge and
school knowledge and the issue of the nature of the
pedagogic relationship as
well.
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
3265
Theoretical Framework
In order then to examine
the issue of how textbooks formulate the pedagogic
discourse and thus
capturing the corresponding discursive transitions from the
primary to the lower
secondary level, our basic hypothesis is that the pedagogic
discourse is constructed by
the interplay of three basic dimensions, namely
classification (Bernstein, 1996), formality (Halliday and Martin, 1996)
and framing
(Bernstein,1996).
In particular,
‘classification’ determines the epistemological relationship
between knowledge systems
(Bernstein, 1996). In our case, the knowledge systems
examined are specialised
‘scientific knowledge’ and every other form of
knowledge lying closer to
the ‘everyday common-sense’ realm like mythology,
religion, popular culture,
practical knowledge, etc. The specialized scientific
knowledge and the every-day
knowledge are interchangeably employed in school
science, either by
presenting every-day forms of knowledge as a point of departure
for the discovery of
scientific knowledge or, inversely, by presenting scientific
knowledge as a means for
meaning making of the every-day world situations. By
definition, strong
classification formulates well-defined borderlines, while weak
classification results in
blurred borderlines between these two types of knowledge
(Bernstein, 1996).
‘Formality’ corresponds to
the degree of abstraction, elaboration and
specialisation of the
expressive codes (i.e. linguistic and visual) employed. Low
formality corresponds to
codes resembling very much the vernacular or realistic
ways of expression that ordinary
people use. On the other hand, high formality
corresponds to the
specialised expressive codes following the conventions that
scientific experts use when
communicating through them (e.g. terminology,
nominalizations, notations,
graphs, etc) (Halliday and Martin, 1996; Kress and van
Leeuwen, 1996).
Classification and
formality combined, determine the degree of ‘scientificness’
of a particular pedagogic
discourse, since a discourse projecting the internal logic
of the scientific content
(strong classification) and employing its specialised
expressive codes (high
formality), clearly drives the students closer to the
specialised scientific
knowledge domain.
In specific, the
combination of the two values that can be ascribed to
classification with the two
values that can be ascribed to formality (strong and
weak) produces four
different potential modalities of the science education
pedagogic discourse, namely
the esoteric, the metaphorical, the public and the
mythical one (Dowling,
1994) (see Fig.1).
The degree of
‘scientificness’ of the pedagogic discourse increases if one moves
from the public (non
specialized content and codes, e.g. newspapers’ science) to
the metaphorical
(specialized content and non-specialized codes e.g. popular
scientific magazines) and
from there to the esoteric modality (specialized content
and codes e.g. specialized
journals). The mythical (specialized codes but non
specialized content e.g.
science fiction books) is a theoretically potential modality
but it very rarely describes
real pedagogical practices. For this reason the mythical
modality will be excluded
from further consideration within this paper.
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10, 2003
3266
Figure 1
The pedagogic modalities
projected in science textbooks and emerging from the
combination of the levels
of classification and formality
Finally, in every pedagogic
discourse a social interaction between the addresser
of subject-matter (teacher
or textbook’s voice) and students is established.
‘Framing’ determines which
side, the addresser or the students has the control over
the pedagogic interaction
(Bernstein, 1996). Strong framing means that the
pedagogic control belongs
clearly to the addresser while weak framing means that
there is some space left to
the students so as to exert their own control over the
learning process.
Since the issue of the
pedagogic control is heavily influenced by the social
hierarchies established as
well the degree that the pedagogic message can be
negotiated by its
addressees, the notion of framing can be conceptually further
elaborated by referring to
the dimensions of: a) the imposition of the addresser
over the learners and b)
the addresser’s control of the conditions for the learners’
involvement. Specifically,
strong framing, as far as the imposition relationships is
concerned, means that
students are put in a powerless social position during the
pedagogic process while
weak framing means that they become empowered so as
to exert their own control
over the learning processes that takes place through the
reading of the science
textbooks. Furthermore, strong framing as far as the
conditions for the
students’ involvement is concerned, means that these conditions
are fully pre-determined
without the latter having any control over them. On the
contrary weak framing means
that the students have the potential for negotiating
the conditions of their
participation in the learning process (Bernstein, 1996).
Combining further, the
dichotomized values of classification, formality and
framing one can produce six
modalities in order to describe the corresponding
pedagogic practice (the
mythical domain has been excluded from further analysis).
These six modalities can be
seen in a diagrammatic form in Figure 2. Specifically,
the modality M1 corresponds
to highly specialized content and codes but weak
pedagogic control and could
be named as liberal esoteric pedagogy, whereas M6
corresponds to
non-specialized content and codes as well as strong pedagogic
control and could be named authoritarian public. The first type of
pedagogy could
be projected for example in
textbooks used in post-graduate academic studies
where the students can be
treated as knowledgeable young peers with significant
degrees of freedom while
the second type of pedagogy could be projected in text
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
3267
matterials used in a health
education program for the general public where the
main objective would be the
provision in the form of strict guidelines and using
non technical codes, of
scientific knowledge that can be easily applied in the
context of every day life.
Figure 2
The pedagogic modalities
emerging from the combination of classification,
formality and framin
In this paper, the two
dimensional mapping of the pedagogic modalities shown
in Figure 2, will be used
so as to describe the discursive transition of science
subjects from primary to
secondary education in Greece, at least as this transition
is reflected by the use of
the linguistic and the visual codes employed in the
corresponding science
textbooks of each level. This kind of analysis becomes
possible taking into account
that the ways that the linguistic and the visual mode
are employed in the school
science textbooks modulate the levels of classification,
framing and formality and,
hence, tend to position the students both in relation to
the esoteric domain
(specialised content and codes) of the corresponding
specialised knowledge, and
also as social subjects that take part in a pedagogicalcommunicative
process. This function of
the two expressive modes is realised by
specific expressive
conventions that act as resources for constructing specific
pedagogic modalities.
Methodology
The texts analysed are
taken from six science textbooks written in Greek and used
in 9.823 Greek primary and
secondary schools during 1997-1999 (the secondary
textbooks are still in
use). Specifically, these textbooks consist of: a) two general
science textbooks for the
two upper grades of primary school (11-12 year olds), b)
two chemistry and c) two
physics for the three grades of the lower secondary
school respectively (13-15
year olds).
In order to implement our
analytic plan, the textbooks were divided into units of
analysis for both the
linguistic and the visual mode. Specifically, in order to
analyse the pedagogic
modality projected by the linguistic mode, different genres
within the textbooks were
distinguished. These genres constitute the units of
analysis. According to
genre analysis (Martin, 1997; Cope and Kalantzis, 1993) a
text differs in structure
according to its purpose. The genres appearing in the Greek
science textbooks are reports, experimental
accounts and historical accounts.
‘Report’ is a type of text
that describes how things are, presents information by
building up
generalisations, classifies various entities and explains processes in
natural phenomena or
explains how a technological artefact works. ‘Experimental
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10, 2003
3268
account’ is a type of text
that usually contains a series of sequenced steps, which
show how a specific
experimental task should be carried out, and/or presents the
results of this task.
Finally, ‘historical account’ is a type of text that presents either
episodes from the history
of science and technology or biographical information
about famous scientists and
engineers. In this way a total of 1153 units of analysis
of the textbooks’
linguistic mode were identified. Of these units 876 (76%) are
reports, 205 (17.8%) are
experiments and 72 (6.2%) are historical accounts.
On the other hand all the
visual images contained in the six science textbooks
were analysed. Any visual
image in a distinct frame within the textbooks was
considered as a single unit
of analysis. Following this procedure, a sample of 2819
visual images was
collected.
All the units of analysis
for both the linguistic and the visual mode were
analysed along the three
theoretical dimensions of classification, formality and
framing. The analysis was
based on the use of two distinct grids of analysis, one
for the linguistic and one
for the visual mode, that consist of variables that become
operational applying
specific socio-linguistic and socio-semiotic approaches.
Specifically, the basic
underlying idea of the two grids is that certain lexicogrammatical
and semiotic elements of
the linguistic and visual mode respectively,
modulate accordingly the
levels of classification, formality and framing. For
example while formality in
the case of the linguistic mode was evaluated in terms
of the density of: a)
scientific notation (terms, symbols and equations), b) nominal
groups, c) verbs in passive
voice and d) sentences in hypotactic syntax, the same
notion in the case of the
visual mode is evaluated on the basis of the degree an
image is characterized by:
a) elements like geometrical shapes and alphanumeric
strings, b) color differentiation,
c) color modulation and d) background
differentiation. The two
grids of analysis have been extensively presented, together
with informations about
their limitations and reliability, in other publications of the
authors (Koulaidis,
Dimopoulos and Sklaveniti, 2002; Dimopoulos, Koulaidis and
Sklaveniti, 2003).
Results
Below, the results of the
textbooks analysis in terms of the pedagogic modalities
promoted by their
linguistic and visual expressive modes respectively of the
textbooks analyzed, are
presented.
The Linguistic Mode
The analysis of the school
science textbooks of both primary and secondary level
showed that the vast
majority of their linguistic units belong to the metaphoric
modality (strong
classification and low formality). Specifically, as shown in Table
1, the discursive
transition that seems to occur through the linguistic mode of the
school science textbooks is
that of a very gradual introduction of students to the
specialized content and
codes of scientific knowledge as they proceed from
primary to lower secondary
school. This transition, however, does not seem to be
completed at the lower
secondary level as the textbooks still employ a linguistic
mode that mainly projects a
metaphoric modality.
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
3269
Table 1
The pedagogic modality
(in terms of classification and formality) promoted by
the linguistic mode of
the school science textbooks of primary and lower
secondary level
Pedagogic modality Primary textbooks
Lower secondary level
N % N %
Esoteric 14 7.7 173 17.8
Metaphoric 141 77.9 699
71.9
Public 26 14.4 100 10.3
Total 181 100 972 100
As far now as the level of
framing projected by the linguistic mode of the
school science textbooks is
concerned, it was found that the primary textbooks are
characterized by much
stronger framing than the textbooks of the lower secondary
level (see Table 2). In
other words, the science textbooks used in the primary
school allow a much narrower
range of available options for students, so as to exert
some control over the
pedagogic process enacted by them, in comparison to the
corresponding available
range provided by the lower secondary level science
textbooks. Thus, the
science textbooks of primary level construct a social identity
of students according to
which, the latter are put in a subordinate social position
and are highly directed
towards the acquisition of the relevant subject-matter. On
the contrary, the science
textbooks of lower secondary level construct a social
identity of students
according to which these are highly autonomous learners who
can access the relevant
subject matter in their own ways.
Table 2
The level of framing
promoted by the linguistic mode of the school science
textbooks of primary
and lower secondary level
Level of framing Primary textbooks
Lower secondary level
N % N %
Strong 87 48.1 26 2.7
Weak 94 51.9 946 97.3
Total 181 100 972 100
Combining further the
results shown in Tables 1 and 2 respectively, and using
the two dimensional
representation of the pedagogic modalities introduced in
Figure 2, the promoted by
the linguistic mode of the school science textbooks
discursive transition which
it also corresponds to pedagogic transition from
primary to lower school,
can be maped as shown in Figure 3.
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10, 2003
3270
Figure 3
The transition across
pedagogic modalities projected by the linguistic mode of the
science textbooks of
primary and lower secondary level respectively
The pedagogical message
emerging from the transition shown in Figure 3 is
that, as students become
gradually more experienced in science (by being
introduced to texts
characterized by stronger classification and formality) they are
increasingly allowed to experience
more autonomous ways of negotiating the
terms of their
participation in the learning process (weaker framing).
The Visual Mode
The analysis of the visual
images contained in the school science textbooks
showed that the majority of
these images in the primary textbooks correspond to
the public modality (non
specialized content and code or weak classification and
low formality) while in the
textbooks of the lower secondary school correspond to
the metaphoric modality
(specialized content but non-specialized code or strong
classification but low
formality). Specifically, as shown in Table 3, in the primary
textbooks 62% of the visual
images correspond to the public modality, but still a
considerable percentage of
34.6% of them corresponds to the metaphoric modality.
This situation is almost
reversed in the science textbooks of the lower secondary
level, where 55.7% of their
images correspond to the metaphoric and 37.4% to the
public modality respectively.
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
3271
Table 3
The pedagogic modality
(in terms of classification and formality) promoted by
the visual mode of the
school science textbooks of primary and lower
secondary level
Pedagogic modality Primary textbooks
Lower secondary level
N % N %
Esoteric 49 3.3 92 6.9
Metaphoric 516 34.6 742
55.7
Public 922 62.0 498 37.4
Total 1487 100 1332 100
The results imply that the
visual mode tend to play a similar role with the
linguistic mode of the
school science textbooks since both seem to function so as
to gradually introduce
students, as these move from primary to secondary school,
into the more specialized
discourses of scientific knowledge. This, in the case of
the visual mode as shown in
another study of (Dimopoulos, Koulaidis and
Sklaveniti, 2003), is
accomplished by the use of more images incorporating the
conventions of the
techno-scientific graphical mode (conventional images and
hybrids) and more images
that seem to promote the conceptual re-organisation of
the world like the
analytical and the classificational ones, as the educational level
rises.
It is also characteristic
that especially in the primary school the visual mode is
not so much employed so as
to promote the conceptual understanding of the
scientific content as to
attribute a pre-eminent value to real world elements, the
salience of which seems to
be exploited as an (experiential) anchor to the
introduction of students to
the reified and highly abstract world of science
(Dimopoulos, Koulaidis and
Sklaveniti, 2003).
With regards now to the
level of framing promoted by the visual mode, it was
found that the school
science textbooks of both primary and lower secondary level
promote a kind of
social-pedagogic relationship characterized by weak framing
(Table 4). In other words,
the visual images of these texts create a sense of
empowerment to their
readers so as to maintain their own control in the
communication-pedagogic
process.
Table 4
The level of framing
promoted by the visual mode of the school science
textbooks of primary
and lower secondary level
Level of framing Primary textbooks
Lower secondary level
N % N %
Strong 303 21.8 174 15.6
Weak 1085 78.2 943 84.4
Total* 1388 100 1117 100
* These totals correspond to realistic
representations only
Combining further, the
results shown in Tables 3 and 4 and using the twodimensional
mapping of the pedagogic
modalities used in this paper (Figure 4), it
can be concluded that as
the educational level rises, the use of the visual mode is
International
Journal of Learning, Volume 10, 2003
3272
transformed from a means to
ground scientific knowledge to the every-day
experiences of students
(public modality) to a means of introducing the latter
towards the specialized
content of science (metaphorical modality). It is
characteristic though that
the visual mode during both phases of this transition
contributes to the
maintenance of the students’ control over the pedagogic process.
Therefore, the visual mode
is an element of the school science textbooks that
constantly enables students
to access the relevant subject matter in their own
independent ways.
Figure 4
The transition across
pedagogic modalities projected by the visual mode of the
science textbooks of
primary and lower secondary level respectively
Pedagogic Implications
As already mentioned in the
introduction section, in this study school science
textbooks are considered as
means of regulating the pedagogic discourse of each of
the educational levels they
are used to and as a consequence as a mirror of the
pedagogic transitions in
science education that occur when moving form the
primary to the lower
secondary level.
Combining the results from
the analysis of both the linguistic and the visual
modes employed in the
science textbooks of both levels, the discursive transition
that emerges is from the
metaphoric-authoritarian towards the metaphoric-esoteric
or metaphoric-liberal
modality.
In other words the main
pedagogic transitions that occur as the educational level
rises are primarily the
weakening of the pedagogic control and, secondarily an
increase in the formality
of the linguistic code employed (gradual move towards
the esoteric modality). The
latter transition is still moderate and remains
uncompleted even in the
textbooks of the last class of the lower secondary school
(age level 15-16 years
old).
The pedagogic position
projected by this picture is, then, that as science
students progress through
the specialised knowledge domain, they become more
capable of processing the
textbooks’ message in more individualistic and
Science Education in
Primary and Secondary Level
Vasilis Koulaidis and
Costas Dimopoulos
3273
autonomous ways. In other
words, the lower secondary textbooks treat students as
independent learners that
have control over how they learn and so they do not feel
intimidated by the pace and
the ways the textbooks deliver the relevant subject
matter. A similar to above
differentiation between the educational levels, as far as
the projected independent
mode of learning, was also found in an extensive study
of 187 school physics
textbooks in the US, which followed a different perspective
from ours (Mulkey, 1987).
The trend imposed by the
science textbooks of a gradual move towards more
specialised forms of
scientific knowledge (both content and codes specialised) with
a parallel increase in the
students’ autonomy in determining how to access the
relevant text material is
in distinct opposition to the widely held pedagogic
position, very often
translated into teaching practice, which favours more guidance
and fewer opportunities for
initiative on the part of the learner as the school
subjects become more
academic and content-specialised (Cazden, 1988; Edwards
and Westgate, 1987;
Rodrigues and Bell, 1995).
Additionally, the trend of
reduced ‘guidance’ of students through the lower
secondary level textbooks
and the parallel increase in the relevant subjects’
specialisation, are in
conflict from a pedagogic point of view. This conflict is based
on the assumption that it
is exactly when the specialisation of a school subject
increases that students
need more guidance and support for its acquisition. This
discursive conflict could
potentially explain the effects of disorientation and lack
of ability to focus on the
important pieces of information experienced by many
students at this level (and
especially the less competent) while trying to make
meaning out of the relevant
textbooks (Yore, Craig and Maguire, 1998; Alexander
and Kulikowich, 1994;
Patterson, 2001; Keys, 1999).
Furthermore, the comparison
between the pedagogic modalities emerged by the
linguistic and the visual
mode of the science textbooks respectively, reveals that
the visual mode tends to
lower both the classification and the formality of the
relevant texts. In this way
though, by not being exposed to the conventions of the
techno-scientific images
students may be excluded from ‘seeing’ and ‘processing’
reality in a similar way
with the experts (Lynch, 1985; Trumbo, 1999). On the
other hand the visual mode
tends to relate more to the public modality and hence it
becomes much more in
comparison to the linguistic mode the vehicle for relating
the every-day experiences
of students with the scientific knowledge.
Closing this paper, it
should be pointed out that the framework presented here
allows the development of a
common theoretical language so as to describe the
pedagogic modalities
projected by school science textbooks as well as by many
other educational materials
employed in science education. The functional
knowledge of this
theoretical language would enable both the authors of science
textbooks and the teachers
that use them to become much more reflexive about
their pedagogic
implications.
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