Abstract:
This study arose from an interest in the way language shapes thought, and in particular the way complex ideas are accessed by some form of representation - analogy, metaphor, model or visualisation. It is also a response to New Zealand Ministry of Education concerns about learning in Science, in particular that young people find scientific ideas and theories difficult to understand, and demonstrate a weakness in physical science at year 9 level, with the attitude of girls being less positive by Year 10. The general aim of the study was therefore to find ways of improving the understanding and confidence in science for girls, and specifically to examine their preferred ways of accessing abstract or difficult content presented to them through image, analogy and metaphor. Although there has been considerable literature published on the theory of metaphor and analogy and their usefulness as tools in concept development, there has been less work on the usefulness of figurative device from the student's point of view. This study therefore investigates the effectiveness for learning from the student point of view of different forms of representation used in science classes at year 10 in a New Zealand school. Data were gathered from students and teachers at an urban secondary girls' school and involved classroom observation, teacher interviews, student surveys and student focus groups. The findings from the data point to an essential role for visualisation, and support an embodied theory of learning and a constructivist approach. Students appeared to make sense of difficult concepts in science by linking new content to their own sense experience or prior knowledge via analogy and metaphor which involved some form of image or visualisation. In this way students seemed able to accommodate new knowledge within their pre-existing knowledge framework. For most students there was a strong preference for visual material with small sections of text, labels or bullet points, rather than full sentences in continuous text without visual support. Visual material appeared to provide easier access to content than did written text. Colour, structure and variety in diagrams, mind maps, process cycles and other illustrative material, were important in engaging student attention, and students appeared to organise and recall material in visual form. The more successful students tended to be those who could access abstract content through figurative device, but there were wide variations in the way students responded to different forms of representation and teaching strategies, which indicates that teachers need to develop a similarly wide range of strategies to serve the needs of their students.