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DIAGRAMS Diagrams “Unlike commonsense knowledge… scientific knowledge as it was then coming into being needed to be organized around systems of technical concepts arranged in strict hierarchies of kinds and parts” (Pg. 6) Halliday & Martin Simple Food Chain Food Chain Circle Disruption in Food Web Nominalization in Diagrams • Flow charts or concept maps can also demonstrate nominalization. From the previous examples, the slides build on one another, becoming more complex within the series. The first slide explained what the food chain was. The second one demonstrated how it interacted with the environment. Finally, the third slide showed how pollution may affect the food web. “Nominalization frequently entails ambiguity, especially for those who are relative novices in the field” (Pg. 245) -Len Unsworth What can students do to have a better understanding of diagrams? • Students must understand the meaning behind the first slide before moving on to the next. Therefore, one way in which students can understand how nominalization works within diagrams is through repeated exposures to such diagrams. The teacher explains what is going on from one slide to the next. Students can be trained to notice such occurrences through repeated practice or exercises. Pond Water Activity Hard at work or hardly working? Question: Does anyone notice anything wrong with these typical pictures found in our students’ textbooks? Layers of the Earth 3-D Layers of Earth Were those pictures accurate? Nah…the visual model that represents the inner layers of the earth are not drawn in proportion. The actual sizes should be: – Crust = 5.5 km (oceanic), 35 km (continental) – Mantle = 2,900 km – Outer core = 2,000 km – Inner core = 1,370 km Hence, in reality, the mantle is actually 530 times thicker than the oceanic crust! Furthermore, the mantle should only be 2 times thicker than the core. Did those pictures look proportionate to you?? How do we know students understand the distortions found in the textbook visual models? An activity in which we can help teach students learn about proportions is to have them observe the disparity within diagrams/visual models. Students can identify the disproportions by first measuring to see if the ratios match the actual scale. They can then draw the actual proportions while comparing and contrasting to the erroneous models. “Learning about images, as with language, can occur implicitly in these experiences but also needs to be explicitly taught and understood” (Pg. 4) Jon Callow Question: What do you notice about the following visual models of cells? “Simple” Cell “Complex Cell” Microscope Image of Cell Do the images look the same? Students may be confuse with what is drawn by an artist to that of the real cell. They would probably have a hard time finding organelles on the actual images of cells. Once again, repeated exposures to all types of models with the teacher discussing about the cell’s complexity may help students discern among various images. In addition, such exercises would help them learn that the actual/real cell’s organelles are very different to that shown in textbooks/hand-outs.