Incorporating Visualization in Science Practice to Promote Student Epistemic Agency

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Epistemic Agency, Inquiry, and Justice in Science Education (Table 29)

Abstract

In current science classrooms, students’ backgrounds are becoming increasingly diverse, however, science teaching continues to practice the normative discourse of knowledge, and students feel disconnected from science even more than before. This qualitative case study explored how incorporating visualization in science practice promotes student epistemic agency to create a more inclusive learning environment for all students. Data included classroom observation, interviewing students, and collecting students’ drawings. Findings from this study suggested that visualization played a critical role in students’ knowledge development, enabling them to take up and act with their epistemic agency by integrating diverse cultural assets and personal experiences into collective knowledge construction. Students also engaged in negotiation between Western science epistemology and everyday understanding when visualizing scientific concepts.

Author

• Qingna Jin, Cape Breton University