Learning from and through representations in science

In this chapter, we review the two main current approaches to researching student acquisition of the literacies of science, defined as student capacity to interpret and construct science texts. Researchers have tended to focus on either analysis and construction of expert representations as a basis for investigating factors affecting student learning from interactions with these representations, or on learning outcomes when students, with teacher guidance, generate and justify their own representations. We identify strengths and challenges in each focus as well as future research agendas in this field.