Mediating Modes of Representation in Understanding Science: the Case of Genetic Inheritance

Abstract

In this chapter we are interested in exploring the dynamic relationship between multimodal forms of representation of scientific concepts — more specifically, genetic inheritance — and the mediated nature of interacting with such concepts in a given semiotic environment to facilitate understanding. The two environments we examine concern public educational exhibits and the biology classroom, both involving representations of genetic inheritance. Our assumption is that mapping meanings across multiple modes of representation is a commonplace procedure for interpreting textual/graphical exhibits as well as face-to-face interaction. The public educational exhibits and classroom learning activities respectively afford various modes of representation, each providing advantages and disadvantages for the social cognitive processes that lead to understanding of the concepts being represented. In other words, multiple forms of representation and the interpretive procedures related to them have communicative as well as cognitive functions — they are central to interpreting information as well as to understanding concepts.