Introduces a collection of short papers that focus on the body, visual culture, and semiotic awareness. States that the papers ask how do we know what we know, through what filters do we understand, and what codes are used to make sense of the world? (CMK)

States that teachers must "face" themselves in order to encourage experimentation with practices that evoke embodied experiences. Discusses "facing yourself," the process of knowing who you are, who you are not, and allowing for the self-transformation that should follow. (CMK)

In this essay, we consider four approaches to research on teacher knowledge: the scholarship of teaching, action research and teacher research, narrative inquiry, and critical-cultural teacher research. Similarities and differences among these four approaches are highlighted. The most salient difference lies in the way each approach identifies…

The paper presents an intensive study of a micro-event aiming at the characterization of teacher's discourse from a multimodal communication perspective in a secondary school science classroom dealing with the topic of "water cycle." The research addresses the following questions: (a) What communicative modes are used by the teacher?, (b) what…

Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call "techno-mathematical literacies" (TmL): functional mathematical…

This article examines the lives of four multilingual students, their classmates, and teacher as they use a range of semiotic systems to learn from, with, and about each other and their surrounding social worlds. Research reveals how literacy practices not only built on students' resources but also invited critique and change. (Contains 5 figures.)

Two issues of this serial include the following articles: "Editorial Note for Semiotics Issue" (Pedro Portes); "Qualitative Postmodernism and the Nature of Teaching and Learning" (Gary Shank); "Instructional Prescriptions Can Be Hazardous to Your Pedagogy!" (Donald J. Cunningham, Bruce Allen Knight, and Kathy K. Watson); "Toward a Mutual Interplay…

This paper reports on a study that consists of the analysis of the discourse of mother-child dyads (N=32) as they interacted during the performance of three science activities that increased in difficulty. Partial dialogues of three high achieving dyads during the solution of the task are presented and examined for evidence of semiotic uptake. The…

The controversial field of semiotics has been criticized for its "unwillingness to respect boundaries" and its "conviction that everything is a sign." The central concerns of this wide-ranging field, however, can be defined, and its implications for teaching can be outlined. Semiotics is the study of signs (symbols, icons, and…

This report describes hypermedia as a non-linear interlinked representation of textual, graphic, visual and audio material, that enables students to connect large bodies of information while developing analytical skills necessary to think critically about this information. It is noted that the use of microcomputers for hypermedia instruction…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a group of teachers came together to form a proactive culture, conducive to change, which assists them in achieving their ideals. The study is part of a programmatic effort to develop an understanding of how teachers make sense of teaching and of their struggles to change. Using semiotics as a base, the…

The beginnings of a pragmatic rhetorical theory can help relate rhetoric to human meaning systems. A pragmatic rhetorical theory is not concerned with whether or not an intentional experience is true to an objective reality beyond human experience, but rather deals with how rhetoric interacts with experiences in the construction of human meaning…

This paper questions some of the assumptions that permeate the current literature about soap operas and television, examining particularly the model according to which soap operas are the expression of an "essential" and universal feminine nature. The paper suggests the pertinence of a crosscultural approach to the study of melodrama as…

During a 1985 symposium in Chicago sponsored by the American Society for Curriculum Development, Noreen Garman, Carl Glickman, and Madeline Hunter discussed the question of whether clinical supervision should be used for formal evaluation and contract renewal. While Hunter's answer was a qualified "yes," Garman and Glickman both felt strongly that…

Between 1964 and 1968, "U. S. News and World Report" engaged in symbolic discourse with its readership through its coverage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "U. S. News" faced a dilemma in the mingling of King's force as a symbol with the power exerted by the egalitarian principles that Gunnar Myrdal identified as components of…