Explains that semiology provides a broad perspective for analyzing the range of signs, their differences in form and function, along with the relative efficiency of different signs for different purposes and situations. Applies some general semiological notions to the printed page. (SR)

Discusses five guiding principles (from scholars' work in semiotics) for helping teachers explore the arts and literacy instruction, intended as a framework for understanding representation of meaning, in whatever sign system or art form. Discusses why understanding semiotic systems is important to language arts instruction that represents meaning…

Reviews the philosophies of radical constructivism and semiotics and discusses the implications of semiotics for radical constructivist learning. Presents the design of a constructivist learning environment using the semiotic perspective of R. Stamper (1993). (SLD)

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…

Presents four successive perspectives on the senses. The first is on objectivism, the second is a view from sensory psychology, the third on phenomenology, and the fourth is that of sensory anthropology. (Author/VWL)

Presents an overview of international perspectives on referencing in educational research, reflects on a number of constants relating to the game of references that could contribute to improving research practices and education, and contemplates the semiotic aspects of referencing in education by opening a discussion on the nature of academic joy.…

Explores questions related to the meaning and nature of time in schooling environments. Highlights include metaphors of time; postmodern perspectives; semiotic interpretations; the value of collaboration; and the organization of learning environments. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/LRW)

Photographs are the most frequent inscriptions in high school biology textbooks. However, little is known about how students make sense of and learn from photographs; even less is known about the different resources available for making sense of photographs when they appear in lectures. In this study, the use of photographs during lectures and…

More often than not, metafiction is approached more on philosophical than aesthetic grounds. In metafictional works the ontological or epistemological dimensions of works of art, literature in particular, are being highlighted by the art works themselves. Moreover, metafictional works of art are singled out as a specific type, almost a genre. This…

The main aim of this article is to describe central elements of, and the relationships among, three interrelated domains of inquiry. The first domain is Charles Peirce's semiotic theory which offers five concepts of special relevance to the other two domains: (a) primary components of the triadic sign, including the object, representamen, and…

Research on children's early literacy learning has predominantly focused on a 'child attribute improvement methodology' (Bloome & Katz, 2003) in which the child is conceptualised as having a series of attributes which are potentially affected by particular sets of treatments or events. These 'input-output' studies, also described as 'black box'…

In Experiment 1, 24-month-old toddlers were taught a new word ("whisk") through the labeling of a picture of a whisk. After repeated pairings of the word and picture, participants were shown the picture and a real whisk and asked to indicate the whisk. They took the word to refer to the real object rather than to the picture. Experiment 2…

This article examines the contention that the central concepts of C. S. Peirce's semeiotic are inherently communicational. It is argued that the Peircean approach avoids the pitfalls of objectivism and constructivism, rendering the sign-user neither a passive recipient nor an omnipotent creator of meaning. Consequently, semeiotic may serve as a…

This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the "sweetness" of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show…

As certain areas of practice in higher education shift online, the work of learners and teachers increasingly takes place within the domain of the image. The "digital turn" we are experiencing, both in higher education and in the wider culture, accompanies an "iconic turn" in which the logic of the image as it emerges on our screens has a growing…