Visualising the complex and the changing : Identifying critical aspects of social science models

• Extended summaryWe live in a world that is rapidly changing and what we believe to be true today may very well be overturned tomorrow. Many of the issues raised in social studies education are characterized by changeability and complexity, such as conflicts, sustainable development, issues of justice, as well as political, social and economic processes. One common way of helping students to grasp the complex relations and the changeability involved in social studies related issues is to use models. Examples of models often used in social studies teaching are models illustrating sustainable development or political processes, as well as illustrations of the socio-economic cycle and diagrams visualizing relations between different factors in society. However, teacher experience as well as earlier research indicate that students often find it difficult to understand and interpret models (see for instance Roberts & Brugar, 2017; Jägerskog, 2020; Sundler, Dudas & Anderhag, 2017). In addition, there is a risk that these seemingly fixed models do not offer an understanding of the changeability in societal issues. The aim of this presentation is to discuss how phenomenography and variation theory (with a focus on critical aspects) can increase our understanding of how models used in social studies teaching can help students understand the complexity and changeability in societal issues. The aim is also to discuss the possible transferability of critical aspects between different kinds models used in social studies teaching. The presentation is based on a project aiming at identifying students’ understanding of two kinds of models (flowcharts and plot diagrams) often used in social studies teaching, and what students need to discern in order to develop the ability reason in a qualified way about the content illustrated. The material analysed consists of 46 recorded and transcribed small group discussions where students in year 6 and 8 in compulsory school and year 1 in upper secondary school discuss a question that concerns either a flowchart illustrating the democracy system in Sweden, a flowchart of the socio-economic cycle, a plot diagram illustrating the relationship between different countries’ GDP and level of CO2 emissions, or a plot diagram illustrating the relationship between birthrate per woman in different countries and the amount of years girls in these countries attend to school. The transcribed material was analysed using phenomenographic methods and critical aspects were identified for the four different models investigated (Marton, 2015). Results show that the critical aspects identified in part can be understood as model and content specific, but in part as model generic. This means that although two flowcharts (or two plot diagrams) illustrate different content, the aspects identified as necessary for students to discern in order to reason about the content illustrated in a qualified way, are very similar. Although similarities are especially clear between models of the same kind (i.e between two different plot diagrams or two different flowcharts), similarities can also be found between the different kinds of models (i.e between flowcharts and diagrams).This raises questions concerning the transferability of critical aspects between different kinds of models and if aspects that reoccur in relation to different models, such as aspects of changeability and complexity, could be understood as especially characteristic for social studies models. ReferencesJägerskog, A., (2020). Making possible by making visible. Learning through visual representations in social science. (Doktorsavhandling). Stockholms universitet.Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. Routledge.Roberts, K. L., & Brugar, K. A. (2017). The view from here: Emergence of graphical literacy. Reading Psychology, 38(8), 733-777.Sundler, M., Dudas, C. & Anderhag, P. (2017). Från missförstånd till klarhet: hur kan undervisningen organiseras för att stötta elevers förståelse för växthuseffekten? Forskning om undervisning och lärande, 5(2), 6-29. 

Ämnesord

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

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

Nyckelord

Social studies

models

phenomenography

teaching and learning

flowchart

plot diagram

Subject Learning and Teaching

ämnesdidaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)