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Understanding Middle School Students’ Difficulties in Explaining Density Differences from a Language Perspective
- Source :
- International Journal of Science Education. 37:2386-2409
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2015.
-
Abstract
- This study examines how a class of Grade 7 students employed linguistic resources to explain density differences. Drawing from the same data-set as a previous study by, we take a language perspective to investigate the challenges students face in learning the concept of density. Our study thus complements previous research on learning about density which has mostly focussed on the conceptual challenges. The data consist of transcripts of lessons on density and students’ written assignments. Using selected analytical categories from the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework, we first examined students’ use of linguistic resources in their written reports of a practical activity. We then compared the language employed by the students with the instructional language, identifying possible links. Our analysis identified specific aspects of language that the students need to appropriate in order to express an understanding of density that aligns with a scientific perspective. The findings from this study il...
- Subjects :
- 060201 languages & linguistics
Grammar
4. Education
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
050301 education
06 humanities and the arts
Education
Systemic functional linguistics
Scientific literacy
Content analysis
Concept learning
0602 languages and literature
Pedagogy
Mathematics education
Psychology
0503 education
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14645289 and 09500693
- Volume :
- 37
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Science Education
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........663cfbc5a4885f92ff5eed85425ba694
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2015.1080879