As disciplines, undergraduate physics and chemistry leverage a particularly wide range of semiotic systems (modes) in order to create and communicate their scientific meanings. Examples of the different semiotic systems employed are: spoken and written language, mathematics, chemical formulae, graphs, diagrams, sketches, computer simulations, hands-on work with experimental apparatus, computer simulations, etc. Individual semiotic resources within this range of semiotic systems are coordinated in specific constellations (Airey & Linder, 2009) in order to mediate scientific knowledge. In this Swedish Research Council project, we are interested in the representation of scientific phenomena that cannot be seen. The question we pose is: How is scientific knowledge mediated when we cannot directly interact with the phenomena in question through our senses?  We adopt a social semiotic approach (Airey & Linder, 2017; van Leeuwen, 2005), to investigate the ways in which two phenomena—electromagnetic fields and chemical bonds—are presented in undergraduate textbooks. To do this we carried out a semiotic audit (Airey & Erikson, 2019) of eight textbooks (four in each discipline). We note that the individual resources used have a mixture of affordances—whilst the majority retain high disciplinary affordance, others are unpacked (Patron et al. 2021) providing higher pedagogical affordance. We discuss the ways in which the resources have been combined and orchestrated (Bezemer & Jewitt, 2010) in order to attempt to make visible that which is invisible, and identify a number of potential problems. In earlier work, Volkwyn et al. (2019) demonstrated how experimental work with physics devices can make the Earth’s magnetic field accessible to students through chains of transduction. Thus, we propose that encouraging transductions across the semiotic resource systems provided in textbooks may help students to experience the invisible.

References

Airey, J. (2006). Physics students' experiences of the disciplinary discourse encountered in lectures in English and Swedish (Licentiate dissertation, Department of Physics, Uppsala University).

Airey, J. (2009). Science, language, and literacy: Case studies of learning in Swedish university physics (Doctoral dissertation, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).

Airey, J. (2015). Social Semiotics in Higher Education: Examples from teaching and learning in undergraduate physics. In In: SACF Singapore-Sweden Excellence Seminars, Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research in   Higher Education (STINT) , 2015 (pp. 103). 

Airey, J., & Eriksson, U. (2019). Unpacking the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: A social semiotic analysis of the disciplinary and pedagogical affordances of a central resource in astronomy. Designs for Learning, 11(1), 99-107.

Goodwin, C. (2015). Professional vision. In Aufmerksamkeit: Geschichte-Theorie-Empirie (pp. 387-425). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

O’Halloran, K. (2007). Mathematical and scientific forms of knowledge: A systemic functional multimodal grammatical approach. language, Knowledge and pedagogy: functional linguistic and sociological perspective, 205-236.

Patron, E. (2022). Exploring the role that visual representations play when teaching and learning chemical bonding: An approach built on social semiotics and phenomenography(Doctoral dissertation, Linnaeus University Press).

The inducible Mar phenotype of Escherichia coli is associated with increased tolerance to multiple hydrophobic antibiotics as well as some highly hydrophobic organic solvents such as cyclohexane, mediated mainly through the AcrAB/TolC efflux system. The influence of water miscible alcohols ethanol and 1-propanol on a Mar constitutive mutant and a mar deletion mutant of E. coli K-12, as well as the corresponding strains carrying the additional acrAB deletion, was investigated. In contrast to hydrophobic solvents, all strains were killed in exponential phase by 1-propanol and ethanol at rates comparable to the parent strain. Thus, the Mar phenotype does not protect E. coli from killing by these more polar solvents. Surprisingly, AcrAB does not contribute to an increased alcohol tolerance. In addition, sodium salicylate, at concentrations known to induce the mar operon, was unable to increase 1-propanol or ethanol tolerance. Rather, the toxicity of both solvents was increased in the presence of sodium salicylate. Collectively, the results imply that the resilience of E. coli to water miscible alcohols, in contrast to more hydrophobic solvents, does not depend upon the AcrAB/TolC efflux system, and suggests a lower limit for substrate molecular size and functionality. Implications for the application of microbiological systems in environments containing high contents of water miscible organic solvents, e. g., phage display screening, are discussed.

Genetics and organic chemistry are areas of science that students regard as difficult to learn. Part ofthis difficulty is derived from the disciplines having representations as part of their discourses. In orderto optimally support students’ meaning-making, teachers need to use representations to structure themeaning-making experience in thoughtful ways that consider the variation in students’ prior knowledge.Using a focus group setting, we explored 43 university students’ reasoning on representationsin introductory chemistry and genetics courses. Our analysis of eight focus group discussions revealedhow students can construct somewhat bewildered relations with disciplinary-specific representations.The students stated that they preferred familiar representations, but without asserting themeaning-making affordances of those representations. Also, the students were highly aware of the affordances of certain representations, but nonetheless chose not to use those representations in theirproblem solving. We suggest that an effective representation is one that, to some degree, is familiarto the students, but at the same time is challenging and not too closely related to “the usual one”.The focus group discussions led the students to become more aware of their own and others ways ofinterpreting different representations. Furthermore, feedback from the students’ focus group discussionsenhanced the teachers’ awareness of the students’ prior knowledge and limitations in students’representational literacy. Consequently, we posit that a focus group setting can be used in a universitycontext to promote both student meaning-making and teacher professional development in a fruitfulway.

Genetics and organic chemistry are areas of science that are regarded as difficult. Part of thisdifficulty is derived from them having representations as part of their disciplinary discourses. Inorder to optimally support students’ learning and meaning-making, teachers need to thoughtfullyuse representations to structure the learning experience in ways that open up the variation instudents’ prior knowledge. For our study, university students’ reasoning on representations ingenetics and organic chemistry was investigated using a focus group approach (8 groups, 4-8students/group). This revealed how students can construct somewhat bewildered relations withdisciplinary-specific representations. For instance, they stated that they preferred familiarrepresentations, but without asserting the meaning-making affordances of those representations.Also, the students were highly aware of the affordances in certain representations, but nonethelesschose not to use those representations in their problem solving. The focus group discussions ledthe students to become more aware of their own and others meaning-making. At the same time,feedback from the students’ focus group discussions enhanced the teacher’s awareness of thestudents’ prior knowledge and meaning-making. Consequently, we posit that a design focus groupmethodology can be fruitfully used both to promote teacher development and progression, andstudent learning.

Here we present a series of molecularly imprinted polymers capable of catalysing the Diels-Alder reaction between benzyl 1,3-butadienylcarbamate (1) and N,N-dimethyl acrylamide (2). The polymer systems studied here demonstrated an unusual cross-linker and temperature dependent behaviour, namely that polymer catalysis of the Diels-Alder reaction was lower at elevated temperature, in contrast to the solution reaction. Furthermore, not only was the catalytic activity significantly influenced by the choice of cross-linker, but in a similar fashion also the extent of the temperature effect, indicating a close relationship between catalysis and the observed inhibition. Molecular dynamics simulations of both the polymer systems studied were used to provide insight into the molecular background of transition state stabilisation, and differences in properties of the systems based on different cross-linkers.

A series of synthetic polymers were designed and synthesized for enhancing the rate of the Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction of 1,3-butadiene carbamic acid benzyl ester (11) and N,N-dimethyl acrylamide (2), to yield the corresponding endo- (3) and exo- (4) reaction products. Putative transition state analogues (TSAs) for the endo- (5) and exo- (6) reaction pathways were used as templates for the synthesis of molecularly imprinted methacrylic acid (MAA)-divinylbenzene (DVB) copolymers. The polymer system utilized was selected based upon a series of (1)H NMR studies of complex formation between template and a functional monomer analogue (K(d) (app) approximate to 70 mM, d(8)-toluene, 293 K). Batch binding studies revealed that the imprinted polymers were selective for the TSA corresponding to the template used in the polymer synthesis. Studies on the influence of the polymers on the catalysis of the reaction of 1 and 2 demonstrated a 20-fold enhancement of the rate of the reaction relative to the solution reaction. A surprising temperature dependence of the reaction of 1 and 2 in the presence of the polymers was observed, which provides support for the role of template-functional monomer complexes in the catalysis of the Diels-Alder reaction.

Disciplinary learning is a multimodal endeavour that calls for achieving representational competency (Linder et al 2014), which is constituted from the coordination of disciplinary semiotic resources (Airey & Linder, in press). Examples of these semiotic resources for disciplines such as physics and chemistry are mathematics, graphs, gestures, diagrams and language. The effective learning of complex subjects such as these presents many unsolved challenges. In order to begin working towards solving these challenges much still needs to be done to deepen our understanding of how such disciplinary learning takes place. Taking the idea that formal learning is made possible through experiencing specific patterns of variation (Marton 2015), we will use our analysis of student-engagement data to present a case for seeing complex learning in terms of the multimodal emergence (Davis & Sumara, 2006) of transduction (Kress, 2010).  We use these results to propose a model of disciplinary learning that characterizes the multimodal emergence of transduction in terms of the start of a journey towards achieving fluency in a critical constellation of semiotic resources (Airey & Linder 2009; in press) for a given object of learning.

References

Airey, J. & Linder, C. (in press) Social Semiotics in University Physics Education, in Treagust, D., Duit R., Fischer, H. (eds) Multiple Representations in Physics Education: Springer.

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.

Kress G. 2010. Multimodality. A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. London: Routledge.

Davis, B., & Sumara, D. (2006). Complexity and education: Inquiries into learning, teaching and research: Erlbaum.

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. 

Marton, F. (2015). Necessary Conditions of learning: Routledge

The further evolution of molecularly imprinted polymer science and technology necessitates the development of robust predictive tools capable of handling the complexity of molecular imprinting systems. A combination of the rapid growth in computer power over the past decade and significant software developments have opened new possibilities for simulating aspects of the complex molecular imprinting process. We present here a survey of the current status of the use of in silico-based approaches to aspects of molecular imprinting. Finally, we highlight areas where ongoing and future efforts should yield information critical to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sufficient to permit the rational design of molecularly imprinted polymers. 

In principle, molecularly imprinted polymer science and technology provides a means for ready access to nano-structured polymeric materials of predetermined selectivity. The versatility of the technique has brought it to the attention of many working with the development of nanomaterials with biological or biomimetic properties for use as therapeutics or in medical devices. Nonetheless, the further evolution of the field necessitates the development of robust predictive tools capable of handling the complexity of molecular imprinting systems. The rapid growth in computer power and software over the past decade has opened new possibilities for simulating aspects of the complex molecular imprinting process. We present here a survey of the current status of the use of in silico-based approaches to aspects of molecular imprinting. Finally, we highlight areas where ongoing and future efforts should yield information critical to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms sufficient to permit the rational design of molecularly imprinted polymers.

Since visual representations play a particularly important role in the teaching and learning of chemistry, the exploration described in this article focuses on them. This is an explorative study of the qualitatively different ways that visual representations can be unpacked by Swedish upper secondary school chemistry teachers dealing with intermolecular forces. Unpacking is characterized as the ways that visual representations get used to open up the possibility of having the critical aspects and features of an intended object of learning being brought into focal awareness, initially on their own and then simultaneously. The analysis, which combines a phenomenographic and a social semiotic approach, leads to the characterizations of five qualitatively different ways that visual representations may be unpacked. These outcome categories are presented in terms of a conceptual hierarchy, where two of these ways of unpacking are characterized as being teacher-centered and the other three as student-centered. This leads to a case being made that if teachers use student-centered ways of unpacking visual representations, then their students will be more likely to gain greater access to critical aspects and features of the enacted object of learning. We argue that in terms of making theoretical and practical contributions to the phenomenographic perspective on learning, the results can be used as a tool for researchers wishing to explore how visual representations can be used effectively in science education and also provide a useful basis for discussion in teacher education and in teacher professional development programs.

Visual representations are essential for communication and meaning-making in chemistry, and thus the representational practices play a vital role in the teaching and learning of chemistry. One powerful contemporary model of classroom learning, the variation theory of learning, posits that the way an object of learning gets handled is another vital feature for the establishment of successful teaching practices. An important part of what lies behind the constitution of teaching practices is visual representational reasoning that is a function of disciplinary relevant aspects and educationally critical features of the aspects embedded in the intended object of learning. Little is known about teachers reasoning about such visual representational practices. This work addresses this shortfall in thearea of chemical bonding. The data consist of semistructured interviews with 12 chemistry teachers in the Swedish upper secondary school system. The methodology uses a thematic analytic approach to capture and characterize the teachers’ reasoning about their classroom visual representational practices. The results suggest that the teachers’ reasoning tended to be limited. However, the teachers’ pay attention to the meaning-making potential of the approaches for showing representations. The analysis presents these visualization approaches and the discussion makes theoretical links to the variation theory of learning.

Teaching and learning in science disciplines are dependent on multimodal communication. Earlier research implies that students may be challenged when trying to interpret and use different semiotic resources. There have been calls for extensive frameworks that enable analysis of multimodal texts in science education. In this study, we combine analytical tools deriving from social semiotics, including systemic functional linguistics (SFL), where the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions are central. In regard to other modes than writing—and to analyse how textual resources are combined—we build on aspects highlighted in research on multimodality. The aim of this study is to uncover how such a framework can provide researchers and teachers with insights into the ways in which various aspects of the content in multimodal texts are communicated through different semiotic resources. Furthermore, we aim to explore how different text resources interact and, finally, how the students, or authors of teaching resources, position themselves in relation to the subject. Data consist of one student text and one teaching resource text, both comprising drawn and written elements in combination with symbols. Our analyses of the student text suggest that the proposed framework can provide insights into students’ content knowledge and, hence, how construction of multimodal texts may be a useful tool for formative assessment. When it comes to teaching resources, the framework may be a useful tool for teachers when choosing resources, particularly in relation to students’ possibilities of meaning making when engaging with such texts, but also, as a basis for classroom discussions.

Teaching and learning in ecology depend on multimodality, involving semiotic resourcessuch as visual representations, subject-specific symbols, and written and spoken language. Furthermore, the ecology field involves complex processes and relationships, presenting student challenges.However, more research has yet to investigate how students design multimodal texts to representcomplex biological processes. For a holistic understanding of ecology, it is crucial to understanddifferent complex processes, such as the matter cycle, energy flow, decomposition, and their relations.Therefore, this study aims to, through multimodal text analysis based on systemic functional linguistics (SFL), identify how secondary students collectively present and combine such processes and howthey position themselves through their textual choices. Results indicate that representing biologicalprocesses comprises several challenges for students. One way in which this is shown is the unclearuse and meaning of arrows. Thereto, the students include various aspects uncommon in the fieldof ecology, for example, symbols inspired by comic books, values, and the role of humans, therebyrelating ecosystems to their interests and everyday life. Implications for teaching are discussed, forinstance, the importance of supporting students in terms of scientific content and how to represent it,which can be conducted through text discussions. 

Många elever har svårigheter i att skapa mening kring naturvetenskapliga koncept. Tidigare studier inom biologiämnet visar att elever har svårt för att beskriva och tolka hur näringsvävar och andra komplexa begrepp hänger samman. Undervisning och lärande inom naturvetenskapliga områden är beroende av en stor mängd representationer som illustrerar fenomen som är för små, stora, abstrakta eller komplexa för att kunna beskrivas enbart med ord. En förutsättning för att elever ska kunna skapa mening kring naturvetenskapliga begrepp är dels att de kan tolka de representationer som används i undervisningen, dels att de aktivt använder representationer. De möjligheter och utmaningar som elever upplever i sitt meningsskapande i samband med ett eget konstruerande av representationer har rönt alltmer intresse; dock saknas studier som specifikt rör ekologiundervisningen. Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera elevers olika syn på komplexa ekologiska koncept och illustrera på vilket sätt eleverna försöker kombinera dessa för en större helhetsförståelse. Insamlad data består av bilder som elever skapat under ett grupparbete och dessa tolkas ur ett socialsemiotiskt perspektiv. Resultaten indikerar att eleverna fokuserar på representationernas ytliga egenskaper, snarare än den underliggande strukturen, samt att strukturen och vetenskapligheten i elevers visuella beskrivningar av ekologiska koncept skiljer sig åt. Eleverna uppvisar svårigheter när de försöker kombinera faktorer kopplade till olika kretslopp. Vidare visar resultaten att eleverna behöver stöd i att skapa en helhetsbild av ekologiska processer och att analys av elevers representationer kan användas för att identifiera elevers svårigheter. Detta kan möjliggöra ett djupare och mer vetenskapligt resonerande i det naturvetenskapliga klassrummet.

Teaching and learning in biology and other science disciplines are highly dependent on representations illustrating phenomena too small, big, abstract or complex to be described by words only. Many students have difficulties learning scientific concepts and lack an idea of “the bigger picture”. Earlier research in biology implicate that students have difficulties describing and interpreting food webs and other concepts concerning ecological systems. One area that is attaining a greater interest is the learning possibilities when students’ actively construct representations. Very little attention has, however, been paid to this line of research in the area of ecology. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to identify students' different views on complex ecological concepts and illustrate the manners by which students attempt to link them together for a more holistic understanding. Data consists of students’ drawings and interviews, that together can give a better understanding of how students take advantage of actively constructing representations. Results indicate that students’ interpretations and ideas regarding ecological concepts differ widely. They describe biological concepts with different levels of abstraction and show difficulties combining abiotic and biotic factors in biological cycles. The results give further insights into how explicit focus on ecological process and concepts can be used to scaffold students’ construction of representations. Furthermore, teachers can employ such representations for formative assessment. A better understanding of how students' active construction of representations influences their opportunities for meaning making will increase the opportunities for a deeper, more scientific, reasoning in the science classroom.

UNESCO has identified education for sustainable development (ESD) as a key factor in the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Education is important in developing awareness of how to preserve natural ecosystems and promote the uptake of renewable energy sources. Ecology education in primary school aims to give students a scientific foundation to further their education in biology and develop environmentally literate citizens who will protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of natural ecosystems. This early education includes awareness of how human welfare depends on functional ecosystems to provide food, clean water and oxygen. However, previous studies have shown that young students face serious challenges when constructing a holistic view of complex ecological relationships. In this study, we interpret students’ written texts and drawings when, in small groups, they were asked collectively to describe necessary functions in an ecosystem, as a final task after a series of lessons on ecology. By focusing on students’ expressed ideas on the availability of energy and matter in the ecosystem, we construe four models. The students in our study propose, firstly, that energy flows or can circulate, and secondly, that matter circulates, is provided by the sun, or is created anew. Moreover, the students often express fragmented processes, combined in different ways. According to our results, we propose aspects that can inform the design of primary school teaching of ecology for sustainable development. 

In disciplinary learning classrooms, access to an intended object of learning gets constituted through the affordance of discerned disciplinary relevant aspects, which are typically distributed across several semiotic systems and their resources. This characterization means that classroom learning can fruitfully be seen as a function of getting to be able to interpret and use the meaning potential of these disciplinary-specific semiotic systems and their resources. The aim of this presentation is to use characterization as a framing to make a theoretical link to the complex system notion of emergenceas characterized for educational practices by Davis & Sumara. The data environment is interactive learning with stereochemistry molecular-structure identification exercises, which takes place during a five-week introductory level organic chemistry course. The data environment is chosen because of the appresent dynamics that the stereochemistry curriculum presents – the disciplinary relevant aspects are microscopic and thus their discernment and affordance require semiotic mediating to facilitate access to the disciplinary relevant aspects that are appresent. The analysis shows how, through semiotic transduction, students in group-work situations combine disciplinary convention with their own alternative invention to create semiotic resources that they are able to engage with in a meaningful way, both concretely and visually.