DEVELOPING AWARENESS OF ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES IN SCIENCE TEACHING PRACTICES: THE CASE OF THE GIRAFFE-PROBLEM

Miranda Rocksén¹, Gerd Johansen², Birgitte Bjønness²

1University of Gothenburg, Sweden, ²Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

Abstract

Teachers use examples for many different reasons, for example in order to concretise abstract principles and to connect the teaching of a curricular topic to students’ experiences from outside the classroom.

However, in science teacher education examples in relation to teaching and learning need to be

problematized and evaluated in the courses. Particular examples, refined and reused over decades, may be perceived as being useful for the teaching and learning, but might in fact lead to over-simplification and nurturing stereotypic notions of the subject matter in focus. One recurring example is that of the evolution of the long neck of giraffes, known from Lamarck and the history of science. The aim of this paper is to problematize the use of ‘illustrative examples’ in science education by looking more deeply into the ‘giraffe-problem’ and how this is manifested in the context of teaching biological evolution in grade 9. Based on social semiotic theory the analysis shows the details of how a teacher designs the example of the giraffe, and how the manifested example for two student groups provides different affordances in relation to meaning making and the evolutionary mechanisms involved.

1 Introduction

Teachers use examples in order to make abstract principles more concrete, visualize complex processes, to suggest applications to which students might relate and more: thus supporting students meaning-making processes. Our concern is that examples used in science teaching practices are not sufficiently problematized within teacher education. The prospective teacher needs to be able to evaluate the role of examples in relation to the teaching and learning. Even if examples work as resources for students meaning-making subject-matter considerations is not the main factor when science teachers plan and implement their instruction (Duschl & Wright, 1989). If uncritically refined and reused over decades, examples assumingly ‘traditional’ and seemingly ‘pedagogical’, may lead to over-simplification and nurturing stereotypic notions of subject matter (Marianne Achiam (formerly Mortensen), 2015). The nature of scientific knowledge is not unproblematic and prospective teachers may need to be

challenged on this (Berry & Loughran, 2012). At the same time, examples from the history of science can be used to demonstrate the range of scientific knowledge claims and evoke critical assessments (Irwin, 2000).

In this presentation we explore some of the difficulties associated with teaching and learning the principles of biological evolution through the lens of an example: the giraffe-problem. Teaching lessons on evolution contain vast amount of information ranging from animal behaviour to molecular

mechanisms of genetic variance. This might be one of the reasons why students understanding of principles and applications of evolution are superficial and limited (Jensen & Finley, 1997). The use of illustrative examples like the giraffe’s long neck to compare and contrast Lamarck’s view of evolution with Darwin’s theory is commonly used in textbooks and classroom practices and supposedly seen as an efficacious example that is stuck in the student’s mind (Rocha et al., 2007; Tyson & Woodward, 1989).

The problem is if the example leads to an over-simplification and counteracts holistic and contemporary understanding of evolutionary biology. In this paper, we explore how the giraffe-problem is manifested in a classroom situation. The aim is here to provide an empirical analysis based on the teaching of an experienced teacher, and discuss possible implications for teacher education from such analysis. By problematizing ‘illustrative examples’ as used in science education, we want to contribute to a critical discussion in teacher education and to its empirical base.

2 Theoretical framework

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The notion of an example and its use in a practical teaching situation, is an expression of the school science culture (Martin & Rose, 2008). The teacher designs the lesson also in respect to what examples to use, their function, prominence and what the students are expected to do with the examples (Selander & Kress, 2010). The affordance of the example is largely decided by its textual representation and the context it is presented in. An example is often elaborated on over several modes such as images, written alphabetical text and spoken words. Each of these modes contributes to the total epistemic affordance of the example (Bezemer & Kress, 2008). Moreover, the example can be

connected to a context – in our case this context is twofold; the context of evolutionary science and the pedagogical/didactical context of teaching and learning in the classroom. When the example is read into each of these contexts the interpretation will differ (Kress, 2010) and tensions may appear.

3 Research methods

The video data is re-used from a previous project and captures the teaching of a curricular unit about evolution in a Swedish 9’th grade (15 years old). The teacher was responsible for the teaching and the researchers did not intervene with the planning of the eleven lessons. The teacher was well known to the group of students and had about ten years of teaching experience. Four simultaneous cameras were used for the recordings. Two of the cameras provided close-ups on two different student groups, one camera followed the teacher and one camera provided an overview of the classroom.

During the first lesson the teacher introduced the ‘giraffe-problem’ to the students and they were supposed to give a written explanation to the development of the giraffe’s long neck. The presentation of the task made by the teacher and the work in two student groups were selected for a more detailed analysis. Verbatim transcripts were used to capture how the ‘giraffe-problem’ was interactionally constructed between students and the teacher in each episode. This became one way to establish how certain resources (spoken and written language, gestures, moves, symbols and

interpersonal relations among participants) as part of school science practice were made available to participants. By returning and repeatedly looking at the video the transcripts were iteratively revised and became key data (Derry et al., 2010, p. 20).

4 Results

The analysis shows the multiple modes involved when the teacher designs the problem and when the students work with the assignment. Examples are the textual resources used in the instruction (Fig 1), and students’ reasoning together using gestures and jokes (Fig 2). During the collaborative conversation students coordinate their attention in four different dimensions: interpersonal, activity, content and text and genre dimensions. The content dimension is emphasised when students articulate what they already know. Hence, the results show how the ‘giraff-problem’ provides opportunities to talk about the giraffe as a species and the ecological context, like food, predators, and ethology, and less about

evolutionary mechanisms. In certain instances students’ display ambiguity towards the giraffe-example:

“are not the giraffes like endangered”. In this quote the word ‘endangered’ resonates with nature preservation rather then survival of species. Moreover, the textual representation of the giraffe-problem addresses two different levels: ‘how come that giraffes have developed such long necks?’

alternatively: ‘how come that we believe that giraffes of today stem from giraffes with much shorter necks?’. In both cases the ‘giraffe-problem’ evokes ambiguities both in relation to evolutionary biology and in relation to the pedagogical/didactical context of teaching and learning in the classroom.

5 Discussion and conclusion

To sum up, the study shows the affordance of the ‘giraffe-problem’ in that it engages the students to discuss and write up the explanation, which they hand in to the teacher by the end of the lesson. The

‘giraffe-problem’ points to the complex relation between the curricular content biological evolution and mechanisms involved in the evolution of physical traits. In the investigated classroom the ‘giraffe-problem’ was implemented before teaching and might have served the functions aimed for in this particular classroom. However, the details shown provide a resource for how to evaluate the role of examples in relation to the teaching and learning and developing critical discussions together with prospective teachers. The study problematizes the use of ‘illustrative examples’ and the affordance of

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such examples in science teaching and learning by looking into authentic teaching practices. Further research may uncover the details of other ‘illustrative examples’ and how they are manifested in

classroom practices. Implications are how to support teacher students’ work of selecting and motivating examples and develop useful strategies for their future teaching practices.

Acknowledgement

Part of this paper is based on an unpublished manuscript, included in a licentiate thesis defended in 2012 by the first author.

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