Multimodes and multiple representations: theoretical frameworks and semiotic perspectives for scientific concepts learning

Abstract

The nature of the scientific knowledge is necessarily linked to a peculiar type language that uses a variety of representations and several discursive manners to communicate them. To understand that knowledge involves giving significance to those representations. For that perspective, this work highlights some theoretical concepts of the semiotic science with the purpose of accomplishing a reflection regarding the students' difficulties with the scientific representations. The reflections that will be place are based in recent researches that are participating in studies of the mathematical and scientific education, but substantial portion of the theme in focus has been privileged by investigations of the first study area. With that procedure, we firstly have the intention transposing important theoretical reflections of mathematical education area to scientific education, entrusting to be contributing with the conceptual refinement of this last one, as while analytic referential that subsidizes the mathematical education it is shown capable to supply a theoretical panorama equally valid to refine scientific education. With that, we tried to converge two knowledge areas that come practically developing in independent way, making it possible an intellectual enrichment. In a second moment, we still join works of an incipient research area in scientific education that investigates the pedagogic influences that have multi-modal and multiple representations in the construction of the scientific meanings. Besides trying to show a direct continuity with the previous theme, we tried to establish relationships with other concepts and theories of the literature in scientific education. Nevertheless, the essence of the work is to attempting for the semiotic theme as promising field of study to understand the nature of the difficulties of learning of the scientific representations, allowing with its theoretical concepts to bring new light to the problems of the apprentices with the understanding of those representations, as well as being an inspiration point for the elaboration of new pedagogic tools to try to face them.