Disciplinary Affordance vs Pedagogical Affordance : Teaching the Multimodal Discourse of University Science

• Disciplinary Affordance vs Pedagogical Affordance: Teaching theMultimodal Discourse of University ScienceThe natural sciences have been extremely successful in modeling some specific aspectsof the world around us. This success is in no small part due to the creation of generallyaccepted, paradigmatic ways of representing the world through a range of semioticresources. The discourse of science is of necessity multimodal (see for example Lemke,1998) and it is therefore important for undergraduate science students to learn tomaster this multimodal discourse (Airey & Linder, 2009). In this paper, I approach theteaching of multimodal science discourse via the concept of affordance.Since its introduction by Gibson (1979) the concept of affordance has been debated by anumber of researchers. Most famous, perhaps is the disagreement between Gibson andNorman (1988) about whether affordances are inherent properties of objects or areonly present when perceived by an organism. More recently, affordance has beendrawn on in the educational arena, particularly with respect to multimodality (seeFredlund, 2015 for a recent example). Here, Kress et al (2001) have claimed thatdifferent modes have different specialized affordances.In the presentation the interrelated concepts of disciplinary affordance and pedagogicalaffordance will be presented. Both concepts make a radical break with the views of bothGibson and Norman in that rather than focusing on the perception of an individual, theyrefer to the disciplinary community as a whole. Disciplinary affordance is "the agreedmeaning making functions that a semiotic resource fulfills for a disciplinary community".Similarly, pedagogical affordance is "the aptness of a semiotic resource for the teachingand learning of some particular educational content" (Airey, 2015). As such, in ateaching situation the question of whether these affordances are inherent or perceivedbecomes moot. Rather, the issue is the process through which students come to usesemiotic resources in a way that is accepted within the discipline. In this characterizationthen, learning can be framed in terms of coming to perceive and leverage thedisciplinary affordances of semiotic resources.In this paper, I will discuss: the disciplinary affordances of individual semiotic resources,how these affordances can be made “visible” to students and how the disciplinaryaffordances of semiotic resources are ultimately leveraged and coordinated in order tomake science meanings.References: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=9547Airey, J. (2011b). 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.cfmAirey, 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-226598Airey, J. (2016). Undergraduate Teaching with Multiple Semiotic Resources: Disciplinary Affordance vs Pedagogical Affordance.   Paper presented at 8icom. University of Cape Town, Cape Town.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., & 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-260209Airey, J. & Linder, C. (2017) Social Semiotics in University Physics Education: Multiple Representations in Physics Education   Springer. pp 85-122Eriksson, U., Linder, C., Airey, J., & Redfors, A. (2014). 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Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

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

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

Nyckelord

Disciplinary affordance

Pedagogical affordance

Undergraduate physics

Physics with specialization in Physics Education

Fysik med inriktning mot fysikens didaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)