Searchin for Swampman The Epistemological Quagmire of Literacy, Visual Cognition and Biology Educati

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Searchin for SwampmanThe Epistemological
Quagmire of Literacy, Visual Cognition and
Biology Education.

• Robert Day
• OSU College of Education
• Day.3_at_osu.edu
• This .ppt file is available athttp//www.angelfi
  re.com/ri/skibizniz/literacy.ppt

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Robs Research Interests

• Construction of naturalistic microcosms (ie.
  ecosystems) and their use in life-science
  education
• Visual cognition in biology undergraduates
• Conceptual change and cognition in science
  education
• Science literacy, both visual and linguistic
• Connections between all of the above
• http//www.angelfire.com/ri/skibizniz/index.html

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What is this talk about?

• Since I am not really a philosopher, a linguist
  or an expert in the language arts, I will skim
  quickly through some vast, slippery philosophical
  and epistemological issues that connect literacy
  and visual cognition before discussing the
  theoretical framework of my dissertation. My hope
  is that this might be food for thought and may
  give others something new to think about when
  they consider the nature of literacy.

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What is this talk NOT about?

• The special ways that scientists use language and
  writing in science classrooms are important
  topics within science education, but I want to
  concentrate on visual issues today since these
  are currently the main focus of my studies. Jay
  Lemke has written extensively on issues of
  language use in science classrooms. His work may
  be of interest to some here.

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Who is Swampman?

• A hypothetical individual with (some serious
  epistemological problems) who challenges
  definitions of literacy and cognition.
• First proposed as a thought experiment by Donald
  Davidson
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_man
• He appears here partly because I like swamps.
• Swamps are full of creatures that are hard to
  see.

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What is Literacy?(dictionary.com)

• 1. the quality or state of being literate, esp.
  the ability to read and write.
• 2. possession of education to question someone's
  literacy.
• 3. a person's knowledge of a particular subject
  or field to acquire computer literacy.
• Synonyms learning, culture.

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What is Literacy?(Rob Day)

• In a broad sense it is the extent to which an
  individual has learned the socially constructed
  meanings of symbols and signs used to communicate
  concepts within his or her culture.

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There are similarities and connections between
visual cognition and literacy

• Attribution of meaning to words vs. images
• Thinking in words vs. images
• Modulation (eg. words vs. geons)
• Defining categories
• Social construction of meanings
• Problems with ambiguity for the positivist mind
• Construction of concepts
• Language acquisition and the problem of induction
• Theory-laden interpretation of meaning
• Connection between vision, semiotics and language

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perception cognition meaning

• This pattern is essentially the same no matter
  how we experience the world, whether it is
  through visual, spoken or written stimuli. The
  more literate we are, the more complex the
  stimuli we can perceive and the more meaning we
  can extract.
• Novices do not always perceive stimuli the same
  way that experts do.

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http//www.kfafh.org/images/all/saudiflag.gif
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What is the origin of literacy?
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Early forms of literacy often involve biological
symbols.
http//www.sanford-artedventures.com/study/images/
cave_painting_l.jpg
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If we dont know the meaning of this symbol, are
we illiterate?
http//www.cyberdreamwork.com/images/Copy20of20c
ave-art-hand1.jpg
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How do we all know that these are people?What
are they doing?
http//yatin.chawathe.com/photos/2004-03-Africa/im
ages/img_0934.jpg
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How does this kitten feel?
How does its mother feel?
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(No Transcript)
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How does this octopus feel?
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soup or art?
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and now on to visual cognition and conceptual
change in biology undergraduates

• Hypothesis Biology undergraduates encounter
  significant visual difficulties in laboratory and
  field work that can hinder their understanding
  and learning.
• Some of these difficulties are common in many
  disciplines but others are caused or complicated
  by specific attributes of biological material.
• Experts in the discipline have a greater degree
  of biological visual literacy - what they
  visually perceive is often different to what the
  novice perceives.

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"I passed all the other courses that I took at my
university, but I could never pass botany. This
was because all botany students had to spend
several hours a week in a laboratory looking
through a microscope at plant cells, and I could
never see through the microscope. I never once
saw a cell through a microscope. "My Life and
Hard Times" James Thurber, former student of the
OSU Plant Science Department.
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Some visual processing problems

• Visual agnosia
• Pareidolia (eg. The Rorschach Test)
• Perceptual scotoma
• Ambiguous images and perceptual flip

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Pareidolia links

• Definition and earliest citation
• Some examples
• More examples
• Fossil on the moon?

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What we see is influenced by many factors
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(No Transcript)
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http//www.doorbell.net/tlr/pixweek/camo.jpg
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What factors affects visual perception?

• Eyesight (resolution / acuity)
• Language and semantics
• Direct and indirect content knowledge
• Innate visual cognitive abilities
• Multiple intelligences (Gardener)
• Learning style
• Teaching approach (constructivist, behaviorist
  etc)

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More factors

• Socio-cultural factors
• Gender, biological / social
• Motivation
• Lifestyle and previous visual environment
• Neurological issues
• Metacognition
• Other factors

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What is Conceptual Change?

• Conceptual change is a learning theory developed
  by Posner et al. that emerged from the
  educational implications of Thomas Kuhns
  Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• Students may have well developed, but incorrect
  conceptual ecologies (misconceptions) that can be
  resistant to modification, even in the face of
  anomalous data presented by an instructor.
• For a review of conceptual change theory go here
• or watch private universe

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According to Posner et. al. conceptual schemas
change by accommodation or assimilation

• Assimilation This occurs when you fit some new
  information into an existing structure or
  conceptual understanding.
• Accommodation This occurs if new information
  cannot easily fit into an existing structure or
  conceptual understanding. Instead, the new
  information requires a radical cognitive
  transformation and reorganization of the
  conceptual ecology.

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• When a student fails to see something,
  misinterprets the meaning of what they see, or
  sees something that is not there, it is the
  instructors job to facilitate a change in what
  the student sees.
• Is this type of change of perception really a
  conceptual change in the sense that Posner et al
  meant it or is this an unrelated cognitive
  phenomenon?

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Example seal donkey

• in ocean
• moving, swimming?
• splashing
• making a noise (bark?)
• therefore alive?
• seals bark swim
• seals live in ocean

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Seal donkey anomalies

• Not swimming gracefully
• Appears to rise out of water illogical
• Noise not like a seal
• Rear fins out of water illogical
• Eyes seem to be releasing steam
• Fins dont look right

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• IF sufficient anomalies are noticed by (or
  pointed out to) the observer, eventually a point
  is reached where the observer experiences a state
  of dissatisfaction with the image presented to
  their conscious mind by their visual centers, and
  a cognitive shift or assimilation event may occur.

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Post perceptual flip seal donkey

• fins ears must be concave not flat
• swimming drowning
• barking braying
• natural event unusual
• happy animal animal in distress
• no further action necessary action may be
  required to save drowning donkey

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Interesting things to note.

• Many optical illusions involve images of living
  things.
• Cognitive scientists often describe perceptual
  categorization problems involving living things.
• fMRI studies indicate that a special part of the
  brain is implicated in the process of recognizing
  living things.
• No reason why conceptual change should not also
  be important in other disciplines, eg. Reading
  comprehension.

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Rationale and goals for this Research

• Alert biology instructors to the problem
• Increase student performance and practical skills
• Alert biological researchers and medical imagers
  to issues related to reliability of graphical
  data
• Expedite postgraduate novice-expert
  transformation
• Use fMRI studies of visual cognition to help
  integrate neurology and psychology with
  educational theory.
• Expand conceptual change theory
• Explore implications for societal scientific
  literacy and environmental awareness, as well as
  for other types of literacy