Semiotic Pedagogy and Students Cognitive Development: Do the Order of Multiple Representations Play Role to Meaning Making?

Conference: The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL2022)
Title: Semiotic Pedagogy and Students Cognitive Development: Do the Order of Multiple Representations Play Role to Meaning Making?
Stream: Learning Environments
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Eleni Georgakopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Zacharoula Smyrnaiou, Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus”, Greece

Abstract:

The present research studies what mental mechanisms are formed by students to understand scientific concepts and whether and to what extent semiotic pedagogy and semiotic systems (maps, graphs, images, videos, models, etc.) facilitate the representation of scientific concepts. Specifically, we focus on the way in which the student constructs cognitive schemata through semiotic resources, organizes them in a broader mental context and constructs mental fields and new cognitive patterns. A key research question is which combination of semiotic systems are more efficient than others and in which order, so that students can make sense of scientific concepts. The present study takes into consideration that the proposed theoretical model can be applied in every subject domain. At this way, aspects of the learning process are illuminated, as different semiotic systems are combined and the processes of students for the construction of knowledge are recorded. The results from the first phase of the research show that: a. students seem to find it difficult to identify the procedures they follow to understand scientific concepts, b. visual representations help more in teaching specific concepts and help students to recognize the cognitive processes they follow, c. verbal representations help the understanding of scientific concepts, but are not sufficient for the production of meaning, d. students seem to prefer optical semiotic systems first and then their verbal explanations as texts, as optical semiotic resources are more abstract shapes but allow students to think more deeply as these semiotic resources activate higher cognitive processes.



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