Loading...
Building complexity in Chemistry through images
Yu, Zhigang Maton, Karl Doran, Yaegan
Yu, Zhigang
Maton, Karl
Doran, Yaegan
Author
Abstract
Chemistry uses a diverse range of images to build its knowledge, yet the role of images in building complex Chemistry knowledge remains underexplored. This chapter explores how images express complexity. Specifically, it focuses on changes in the images used through years of secondary school textbooks in New South Wales, Australia. We draw on the concept of ‘semantic density’ (more specifically ‘epistemic–semantic density’) from Legitimation Code Theory to examine the complexity of epistemological meanings presented in image. We outline a ‘translation device’ for enacting this concept to analyze images in our data. Our analysis suggests that through the curriculum stages of secondary school Chemistry, the knowledge expressed by images does not simply grow in complexity but represents a growing range of different levels of complexity. The images used by secondary school Chemistry textbooks typically maintain a connection to the everyday world but reach further and further into greater complexity from this base. We conclude by considering what role this growing semantic density range might play in building knowledge through secondary schooling.
Keywords
Education, Chemistry, secondary schooling
Date
2022
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Enhancing Science Education: Exploring Knowledge Practices with Legitimation Code Theory
Volume
Issue
Page Range
1-30
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© Routledge, 2022.