R. Kozma et al., The roles of representations and tools in the chemistry laboratory and their implications for chemistry learning, J LEARN SCI, 9(2), 2000, pp. 105-143
In this historical and observational study, we describe how scientists use
representations and tools in the chemistry laboratory, and we derive implic
ations from these findings for the design of educational environments. In o
ur observations we found that chemists use representations and tools to med
iate between the physical substances that they study and the aperceptual ch
emical entities and processes that underlie and account for the material qu
alities of these physical substances. There are 2 important, interrelated a
spects of this mediational process: the material and the social. The Ist em
phasizes the surface features of both physical phenomena and symbolic repre
sentations, features that can be perceived and manipulated. The 2nd undersc
ores the inherently semiotic, rhetorical process whereby chemists claim tha
t representations stand for unseen entities and processes. In elaborating o
n our analyses, we
Examine the historical origins and contemporary practices of representation
use in one particular domain-chemistry-to look at how developments in the
design of representations advance the development of a scientific community
, as well as the understanding of scientists engaged in laboratory practice
.
Examine representations spontaneously generated by chemists, as well as tho
se generated by their tools or instruments, and look at how scientists-indi
vidually and collaboratively-coordinate these 2 types of representations wi
th the material substances of their investigations to understand the struct
ures and processes that underlie them.
Draw implications from the study of scientists to make recommendations for
the design of learning environments and symbol systems that can support the
use of representations by students to understand the structures and proces
ses that underlie their scientific investigations and to engage them in the
practices of knowledge-building communities.