This chapter describes an empirical study using multimodal narratives for research into students' development of epistemic practices in the classroom. Multimodal narratives can give access to classroom events, preserving their complex and holistic nature. Through content analysis, they allow a good comprehension of the multimodal nature of teaching and learning practices. The results of this work highlight the importance of multimodal narratives as a research instrument. Their importance is based on the richness of elements they contain that allow the identification, categorization, and characterization of teacher mediation actions that promote, scaffold, and enlarge students' epistemic practice development. This chapter seeks to describe both their multiple potentialities as an instrument and their limitations when researching the development of students' epistemic practices in the physical sciences classroom.
This study aims to clarify the role of visual representations (VR) on the promotion and development of students’ epistemic practices (EP) in the physical sciences (PS) classroom. The use of VR is crucial for supporting and developing students’ EP (student work in inquiry context).
Research questions: (a) how do teachers trigger the use of VR by students in the classroom? (b) What functions can be attributed to VR in PS classrooms? (c) What is the impact of VR on students’ EP? In all questions the dependence on the context and teacher experience will be analyzed.
This is a multicase study with five PS teachers, with different teaching experience, from Portuguese basic schools (students aged 13-15 years).
Multimodal narratives were used (a description of what happens in the classroom, using several types of data collected). Using open coding analysis, categories were found and then cluster analysis was used to find patterns.
Main findings: (a) teacher’s efforts are the triggers for the use of VR by students, especially the task proposal; (b) VR can be used as an illustration (does not increase students’ EP) or as epistemic mediator (increases students’ EP); (c) all these aspects are dependent on teacher experience.
Key words: Epistemic mediators, students’ epistemic practices, teacher mediation, visual representations.
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