John Airey
Social Semiotics in
Higher Education:
Examples from teaching and
Uppsala Physics Education Research Group
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Undergraduate teaching and learning in physics
In US 86 PER research groups
In university physics departments
In US 86 PER research groups
In university physics departments
What is Physics Education Research?
Disicipline-based Education Research
“investigates learning and teaching in
a discipline using a range of methods
with deep grounding in the discipline’s
priorities, worldview, knowledge and
practices.
Long-term goal: “to understand the
nature of expertise in a discipline”.
Research group interests
Understanding physical phenomena
How do students understand physical phenomena and how can
learning experiences be constructed to facilitate such understanding?
Social identity and the culture of physics
How does the culture of physics affect the possibilities for student
learning?
Representation in physics
How can the different resources we use in physics be coordinated in
order to improve the teaching and learning of physics?
My personal interests
The role of language
Airey 2004; 2010; 2011a; 2012; 2015; in press
Airey & Linder 2006; 2008
Thøgersen & Airey 2011; Airey et al in press
Disciplinary literacy
Airey 2011b, 2011c; 2013; Linder et al 2014
Airey & Linder 2009; Airey & Linder in press
Ericsson et al 2014a; 2014b
Fredlund et al 2012; 2015a; 2015b; 2015c
Larsson & Airey 2014a 2014b;; 2015a; 2015b
Airey & Larsson 2014
9
Representation
in physics
Teacher identity/
professionalism
Four-year funding from Swedish Research Council
Benchmark physics teacher training across four
countries with different PISA results
NIE, Singapore
Åbo Academy, Finland
Cambridge, UK
Uppsala, Sweden
Interested in the affordances and constraints
for trainee physics teachers to construct a
professional identity across different settings.
John Airey
Social Semiotics in
Higher Education:
Examples from teaching and
What is social semiotics?
The study of the development and reproduction
of specialized systems of meaning making in
particular sections of society.
Airey & Linder (in press)
(See also descriptions in Halliday 1978; Hodge & Kress 1988;
Thibault 1991; van Leeuwen 2005)
Use as a lens to understand teaching and
learning in undergraduate physics.
Learning a particular physics concept is
dependent on becoming
fluent
in a
critical
constellation of semiotic resources
.
(Airey 2009, Airey & Linder 2009)
Theoretical constructs
Critical constellations
A Physics
Concept
Airey & Linder (2009)
Discourse imitation
is when students use
semiotic resources appropriately
without
the
associated disciplinary understanding
Discourse imitation
occurs because students
can’t become fluent in everything at once.
Teachers should expect discourse imitation
Airey (2009); Airey & Linder (2009)
Theoretical constructs
17
Affordance
Key term in our work
Affordance
Disciplinary affordance
The agreed meaning making functions that a
semiotic resource fulfils for a particular
disciplinary community.
Airey (2014)
Pedagogical affordance
The aptness of a semiotic resource for teaching
some particular educational content
Airey (in press)
Disciplinary affordance
Disciplinary learning can be problematised in
terms of
coming to appreciate the disciplinary
affordances of semiotic resources
Fredlund et al (2012:658)
Focuses on the
discipline’s
interpretation
of
the resource rather than the learner’s
experience
Disciplinary affordance
20
The disciplinary affordance of a semiotic
resource is shaped by its:
Materiality
Historical convention
Rationalization
21
Airey & Eriksson 2014
An example of a semiotic
resource with high
disciplinary affordance
*Information highly
packed
*High level of usefulness
in the discipline
»
Pedagogical affordance
Deal with less information (reduces cognitive
load
Often less abstract
(this is something you can ’see’)
Has limited use in the day-to-day work of the
discipline
Disciplinary affordance
Usefulness doing the discipline
Pedagogical affordance
Usefulness for teaching the discipline
Two related affordances
Pedagogical vs disciplinary affordance
Disciplinary
affordance
Pedagogical
affordance
Disciplinary affordance
Appropriate disciplinary learning only possible
when there is a
match
between:
•
what a given semiotic resource
affords to the student
(Gibson 1988; Norman 1979)
And
•
its disciplinary affordance
(i.e. what it affords for the discipline)
How can we help students
discern disciplinary affordances?
1.
Unpack
the disciplinary affordance
(Fredlund et al 2014)
2. Use variation theory
to draw the appropriate
disciplinary affordance to students’ attention
(Marton and Booth, 1997; Lo, 2012; Marton, 2015)
28
Channel 1:
Channel 2:
1. Unpacking disciplinary affordance
Unpacking disciplinary affordance
Channel 2
Channel 1
Channel 2
Channel 1
Channel 2
Channel 2
Channel 1
33
OC1
OC1
OC2
OC2
FG
FG
34
! 13!
Table I (e) shows the oscilloscope indicating a square signal from the function generator on Channel 2, and a characteristic charging and discharging curve from the capacitor on Channel 1. The students could finally get on with their measurements.
TABLE I. Summary of the illustrative vignette showing the sequence of connections and reconnections of the circuit that the students carried out and the oscilloscope images obtained at each stage. The signal from the function generator and the capacitor are shown in blue and yellow respectively.
Description Circuit connection Image on the oscilloscope screen
(a) The students’ first connection (b) The students’ simplified connection (c) The circuit after the TA’s first intervention (d) The same circuit after having increased the frequency (e) The circuit after the TA’s second intervention OC1$ OC1$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ FG$ See$Fig.$4$in$v.$ 43$ See$Fig.$6$in$v.$ 43$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ FG$ OC1$ OC1$ OC1$ OC1$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ FG$ See$Fig.$4$in$v.$ 43$ See$Fig.$6$in$v.$ 43$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ FG$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ See$Fig.$8$in$v.$ 43$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ FG$ See$Fig.$9$in$v.$ 43$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ See$Fig.$8$in$v.$ 43$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ FG$ See$Fig.$9$in$v.$ 43$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$ FG$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ See$Fig.$8$in$v.$ 43$ OC1$ OC1$ FG$ FG$ See$Fig.$9$in$v.$ 43$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$ OC2$
35
Unpacking
Unpacking a semiotic resource
increases
its
pedagogical affordance
but
decreases
its
disciplinary affordance
Airey (2015)
2 Variation theory
Use
variation theory
to draw the appropriate
disciplinary affordance to students attention
(Marton and Booth, 1997; Lo, 2012; Marton, 2015)
We notice aspects that vary…
39
Hold all aspects constant except for the aspect of
you want students to notice
Suggest that we can leverage this with
all the disciplinary specific semiotic
resources we use.
Allows students to discern the
disciplinary affordance
Identify disciplinary-relevant aspects
Select appropriate semiotic resources
Create systematic pattern of variation
that allows students to notice the
disciplinary affordances
Fredlund (2015), Fredlund, et al (2015 a; 2015b; 2015c)
Shown how this systematic variation could be
applied to help students notice disciplinary
affordances in Optics and Electrostatics
Fredlund (2015); Fredlund et al (2015b)
Airey, J. (2004). Can you teach it in English? Aspects of the language choice debate in Swedish higher education. In Robert. Wilkinson (Ed.), Integrating Content and Language: Meeting the Challenge of a Multilingual Higher Education (pp. 97-108). Maastricht, Netherlands: Maastricht University Press.
Airey J. (2009). Science, Language and Literacy. Case Studies of Learning in Swedish University Physics. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 81. Uppsala Retrieved 2009-04-27, from
http://publications.uu.se/theses/abstract.xsql?dbid=9547
Airey, J. (2010). The ability of students to explain science concepts in two languages. Hermes - Journal of Language and
Communication Studies, 45, 35-49.
Airey, J. (2011a). Talking about Teaching in English. Swedish university lecturers' experiences of changing their teaching language. Ibérica, 22(Fall), 35-54.
Airey, J. (2011b). Initiating Collaboration in Higher Education: Disciplinary Literacy and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Dynamic content and language collaboration in higher education: theory, research, and reflections (pp. 57-65). Cape Town, South Africa: Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Airey, J. (2011c). The Disciplinary Literacy Discussion Matrix: A Heuristic Tool for Initiating Collaboration in Higher Education. Across the disciplines, 8(3), unpaginated. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/clil/airey.cfm
Airey, J. (2012). “I don’t teach language.” The linguistic attitudes of physics lecturers in Sweden. AILA Review, 25(2012), 64–79. Airey, J. (2013). Disciplinary Literacy. In E. Lundqvist, L. Östman, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Scientific literacy – teori och praktik
(pp. 41-58): Gleerups.
Airey, J. (2014) Representations in Undergraduate Physics. Docent lecture, Ångström Laboratory, 9th June 2014 From
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-226598
Airey, J. (2015). From stimulated recall to disciplinary literacy: Summarizing ten years of research into teaching and learning in English. In Slobodanka Dimova, Anna Kristina Hultgren, & Christian Jensen (Eds.), English-Medium Instruction in European
Higher Education. English in Europe, Volume 3 (pp. 157-176): De Gruyter Mouton.
Airey, J. (In Press). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP). In K. Hyland & P. Shaw (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of English for Academic Purposes. London: Routledge.
Airey, J., & Eriksson, U. (2014). A semiotic analysis of the disciplinary affordances of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram in
astronomy. Paper presented at the The 5th International 360 conference: Encompassing the multimodality of knowledge,
Aarhus, Denmark.
Airey, J., Eriksson, U., Fredlund, T., and Linder, C. (2014). "The concept of disciplinary affordance"The 5th International 360
conference: Encompassing the multimodality of knowledge. City: Aarhus University: Aarhus, Denmark, pp. 20.
Airey, J., & Larsson, J. (2014). What Knowledge Do Trainee Physics Teachers Need to Learn? Differences in the Views of Training Staff. International Science Education Conference ISEC 2014, National Institute of Education, Singapore. 25-27 November
2014.
Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2006). Language and the experience of learning university physics in Sweden. European Journal of Physics,
27(3), 553-560.
Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2008). Bilingual scientific literacy? The use of English in Swedish university science programmes. Nordic
Journal of English Studies, 7(3), 145-161.
Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2009). "A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes." Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(1), 27-49.
Airey, J. & Linder, C. (2015) Social Semiotics in Physics Education: Leveraging critical constellations of disciplinary representations ESERA 2015 From http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Auu%3Adiva-260209
Airey, J. & Linder, C. (in press) Social Semiotics in Physics Education : Multiple Representations in Physics Education
Springer
Eriksson, U. (2015) Reading the Sky: From Starspots to Spotting Stars Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Eriksson, U., Linder, C., Airey, J., & Redfors, A. (2014). Who needs 3D when the Universe is flat? Science Education, 98(3), 412-442.
Eriksson, U., Linder, C., Airey, J., & Redfors, A. (2014). Introducing the anatomy of disciplinary discernment: an example from astronomy. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2(3), 167‐182.
Fredlund 2015 Using a Social Semiotic Perspective to Inform the Teaching and Learning of Physics. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Fredlund, T., Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2012). Exploring the role of physics representations: an illustrative example from students
sharing knowledge about refraction. European Journal of Physics, 33, 657-666.
Fredlund, T, Airey, J, & Linder, C. (2015a). Enhancing the possibilities for learning: Variation of disciplinary-relevant aspects in physics representations. European Journal of Physics.
Fredlund, T. & Linder, C., & Airey, J. (2015b). Towards addressing transient learning challenges in undergraduate physics: an example from electrostatics. European Journal of Physics. 36 055002.
Fredlund, T. & Linder, C., & Airey, J. (2015c). A social semiotic approach to identifying critical aspects. International Journal for
Fredlund, T., Linder, C., Airey, J., & Linder, A. (2014). Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 10(020128).
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The theory of affordances The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (pp. 127-143). Boston: Houghton Miffin.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as a social semiotic. London: Arnold. Hodge, R. & Kress, G. (1988). Social Semiotics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Kryjevskaia M, Stetzer M R & Heron P R L (2012) Student understanding of wave behavior at a boundary: the relationships among wavelength, propagation speed, and frequency Am. J. Phys. 80339–47
Larsson, J., & Airey, J. (2014a). Searching for stories: The training environment as a constituting factor in the professional identity work of future physics teachers. British Educational Research Association Conference BERA 2014, London, September
2014.
Larsson, J., & Airey, J. (2014b). The competing discourse models future physics teachers’ meet during teacher training. International
Science Education Conference ISEC 2014, National Institute of Education, Singapore. 25-27 November 2014.
Larsson, J., & Airey, J. (2015a). Discourse Models in Swedish Physics Teacher Training: Potential Effects on Professional Identity
Paper presented at the 16th Biennial EARLI Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction 25-29 August 2015.
Larsson, J., & Airey, J. (2015b). The "physics expert" discourse model – counterproductive for trainee physics teachers' professional identity building? Paper presented at the 11th Conference of the European Science Education Research Association
(ESERA) Helsinki, August 31 to September 4, 2015.
Linder, A., Airey, J., Mayaba, N., & Webb, P. (2014). Fostering Disciplinary Literacy? South African Physics Lecturers’ Educational Responses to their Students’ Lack of Representational Competence. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and
Technology Education, 18(3), 242-252. doi:10.1080/10288457.2014.953294
Lo, M. L. (2012). Variation theory and the improvement of teaching and learning (Vol. 323). Gothenburg: Göteborgs Universitet. Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. New York: Routledge.
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Norman, D. A. (1988). The psychology of everyday things. New York: Basic Books.
Mavers, D. Glossary of multimodal terms Retrieved 6 May, 2014, from http://multimodalityglossary.wordpress.com/affordance/
Thibault, P. (1991). Social semiotics as praxis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Introducing social semiotics. London: Routledge.
Wu, H-K, & Puntambekar, S. (2012). Pedagogical Affordances of Multiple External Representations in Scientific Processes. Journal
