Creating a digital explanation in preservice teacher education : Scientific knowledge represented in a digital artefact

This chapter describes a task where preservice primary teachers [PSTs] create a digital explanation, which is a short 3–5 min dynamic stand-alone artefact to explain a science concept to children. In creating the artefact, PSTs engage with scientific knowledge and choose semiotic resources to represent the concept for young learners. Data include digital explanations and interviews. We use a Systemic Functional approach grounded in Halliday’s social-semiotic theory of language that is extended to account for multimodal phenomena in order to examine how meanings are instantiated in the artefacts. Results show that the task helps PSTs develop scientific knowledge, however, success depends on interpreting task demands, understanding syllabus content and making appropriate choices of representational forms.