Tryckt bild eller avbildat tryck? : Visuella representationer av begrepp relaterade till tryck i fysikläroböcker för högstadiet

Sammanfattning: AbstractIn this study visual representations of the concept of pressure in five physics textbooks for lower secondary school have been analysed in terms of how they communicate the concept of pressure, and also how these representations work together to explain what pressure is. Examples of visual representations are fonts, photographs, sketches, tables or mathematic formulas. The analysis will answer the research questions; what types of representations are present? How are they used to represent concepts and what affordances do they have? That is, how well do they represent the content? Representations of scientific concepts are important tools for creating an understanding of science. In connection with the scientific concepts mentioned in textbooks it is common to use many other forms of representation to clarify them. This study used content analysis as methodology. First, the presence of representations has been analysed, and sorted into three categories: textual representations, graphical representations and mathematical representations. Second, representations have been analysed with regard to how they support the text in order to reveal the physics content using a model describing four principles: form and function, mental model, placement and semantic integration. Finally, the affordances of the representations are analysed with regard to what they offer the students.The results show that textual representations together with graphical representations dominate in all textbooks, while the mathematical representations only occur occasionally. Although representations should help the reader to understand the content, this study shows that this is not always the case. Most representations are directly linked to the text by depicting objects mentioned in the text. Few representations discuss abstract concepts or processes. The analysis also shows that representations are similar in the textbooks. Most of the representations are placed after or next to the text. Texts and other representations are seldom integrated. The results also show that the multimodal aspect is not fully used. Generally, the images are not combined with other representations, for example text labels or arrows, to illustrate special parts. The study shows that many of the representations have affordances to describe the physics discourse. However, a large portion of them have gone through several steps of transduction, becoming so simplified that their affordances are inaccessible or appresent (hidden) and hence become difficult to link to the content. The meaning of the concept is connected to the context in which they are used. In order to understand the concepts, students also need to understand the context. Many representations do not show their meaning directly. In order to reveal their meaning the representations need to be unpacked, either by their associated representation or by a teacher.A conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that representations in physics text books have appresented affordances that students only can get access to from teaching. Students have to work with text and representations simultaneously. Here teachers are of great importance in providing guidance for students.