Slowmation: A Process of Explicit Visualization

The notion of visualization conjures up an interesting image of what it means to think about teaching science. A concrete approach to supporting teachers’ development of their professional knowledge about teaching science through visualization is evident in the use of slowmation. This chapter considers the conceptual basis of slowmation and illustrates how through a process of visualization, images of teaching about science are able to be made both concrete and useable for teachers. The chapter illustrates how, when science teachers introduce slowmation as a teaching procedure, they begin to see into the science concepts they are teaching in new ways. Slowmation creates a working environment in which the teacher is ‘forced’ to unchunk their knowledge of scientific concepts and begin to visualize the chunks that matter in developing a deeper understanding of the concepts for teaching. As slowmation is conceptualized through the theoretical framework of semiotics, the notion of visualization becomes a helpful way of supporting teachers’ active production of their professional knowledge of practice.

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