Social Semiotics in University Physics Education

• In this chapter we discuss the application of social semiotics (Halliday 1978; van Leeuwen 2005) in the teaching and learning of university physics. For our purposes we define social semiotics as the study of the development and reproduction of spe- cialized systems of meaning making in particular sections of society. In our work we have used social semiotics as a lens to understand teaching and learning in undergraduate physics. There are many similarities between our social semiotic approach and the other representational work presented in the chapters of this vol- ume. The fundamental aim of this chapter is to introduce the supplementary and complementary aspects that a social semiotic perspective offers physics education and research in the area. Thus, in what follows, we describe our motivations for adopting a social semiotic approach and map out the similarities and differences to the extant body of work on multiple representations in physics education research. We then present a number of theoretical constructs that we have developed in our research group, and discuss their usefulness for understanding the processes of teaching and learning in undergraduate physics.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Physics with specialization in Physics Education

Fysik med inriktning mot fysikens didaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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