As part of a series of investigations in which we explore the integration of verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication into a dialectical, sense-constitutive unit during science lectures, this study adapts the notions of catchments (i.e., repetitions of essential features of the gesture-speech dialectic) and growth points (i.e., moments in…

The idea that mathematical knowledge is embodied is increasingly taking hold in the mathematics education literature. Yet there are challenges to the existing conceptualizations: There tend to be breaks between (a) the living and experienced body (flesh) and linguistic forms of thought, (b) individual and collective forms of knowing, and (c) the…

In contrast to past educational research that views graph-related activities in terms of mental ability, I offer a conceptualization of graphing as a semiotic activity. This move provides a more viable account not only of individual experiences, familiarity and socio-cultural factors during graph reading, but also of errors committed by students…

Reports on a study designed to find out what scientists and science students actually do when they are reading familiar and unfamiliar graphs. Describes changes in ontologies of scientists and science students as they engage in the reading tasks assigned to them. Theorizes a transition of graphs from things to signs that come to stand for natural…

Thinking about macroscopic phenomena in terms of models based on the idea of microscopic particles (i.e., the particulate theory of matter) is one of the important goals for student learning in chemistry around the world. However, previous research suggests that students do not easily understand phenomena from a particle perspective, although such…

Most studies about students' conceptions and conceptual change are based exclusively on the analysis language, which is treated as a tool to make private contents of the mind public to researchers. Following recent studies that focused on (a) language and discursive practice and (b) the pragmatics of communication that draws on talk, gestures, and…

Examined cognitive complexities when graphs were used in lectures by observing 39 lectures, 36 seminars in which students solved problems, and 14 sessions of scientists interpreting graphs. Findings show that lectures present a scanty image of the use and interpretation of graphs. Discusses the analytic method, which relies on semiotics and…