ABSTRACT

Whereas previous studies show that children are able to make meaning about evolutionary concepts within read-aloud contexts, little is known about how semiotic resources and interaction influence children’s meaning making about evolution. This study investigates children’s meaning making about evolutionary concepts during a modelling activity conducted after an interactive storybook read-aloud describing the evolution of a foraging trait of a fictitious mammal (the pilose). Forty children (13 groups) were videotaped as they produced a clay pilose model, while explaining how they thought their pilose would appear after inhabiting a ‘future’ environment (mountainous, snowy or forest). A multimodal analysis focused on how children demonstrated their meanings of seven evolutionary concepts described in the book. An eighth concept, ‘adaptation to environment’, was also often discussed. While all eight concepts emerged, the most frequent concerned survival and adaptation. The eighth concept appeared to serve as a synthesis of children’s interpretation of the storybook that highlighted the visible consequences of evolution. The children engaged five interactional resources, dominated by the interactional resource of communicating the concepts in direct relation to their produced pilose models. The findings shed light on how children’s representational and relational practices impact making meaning about evolution.

摘要

先前的研究表明，儿童能够在朗读的语境中对进化概念产生意义，而对于符号资源和互动如何影响儿童对进化的意义知之甚少。这项研究调查了儿童在互动活动的故事书朗读后进行的建模活动中对进化概念的含义，该故事描述了虚拟哺乳动物的觅食性状（毛）。对40名儿童（13组）进行了录像，他们制作了黏土毛毛模型，同时解释了他们认为在居住于“未来”环境（山区，下雪或森林）后毛毛会出现的样子。多模式分析的重点是儿童如何证明书中描述的七个进化概念的含义。经常讨论第八个概念，“适应环境”。虽然所有八个概念都出现了，但最常见的是生存和适应。第八个概念似乎是儿童对故事书的解释的综合，突出了进化的可见后果。孩子们使用了五种互动资源，其中以与他们产生的柔毛模型直接相关的概念交流的互动资源为主导。