Visual images have always been a prevalent means of thinking and communicating in science. Images also dominate science teaching: science textbooks, digital educational material, websites, etc., use images to introduce, define, and analyze scientific ideas. Therefore, scientific literacy, which entails competency in communicating scientific ideas effectively, requires a variety of representational abilities, including the ability to interpret and create visual images. In this sense, scientific literacy is closely related to visual literacy, i.e., the ability to understand, interpret, and create images, and to think through images.
Furthermore, science education research has used visual images as a means of investigating students’ conceptions and views about diverse topics. For instance, data collection instruments that relied on visual images (e.g., Interviews About Instances, students’ drawings) have proven especially informative in tapping students’ conceptions about scientific topics.
Traditionally, science education has overlooked the importance of images and has mainly focused on verbal communication to investigate, mediate, teach, and evaluate science-related meanings. However, this approach is restricted since scientific knowledge is conceptualized and communicated through various modes, among which visual images are dominant. Furthermore, it has been misleadingly believed that the meaning mediated through images is self-evident and unambiguous and that students develop their ability to understand, create, and use them spontaneously. However, understanding, creating, and using images in the context of science education are demanding processes that require explicit instruction. Failing to acknowledge these necessities deprives students of familiarizing themselves with visual representations and using them adequately to understand and communicate scientific meanings. It is therefore essential that science education initiates students in understanding, interpreting, and using images to support them in thinking, communicating, and solving problems visually.
Moreover, visualization is an integral component of the public discourse about science and scientists. Students’ images of scientists are another manifestation of the prevalence of visual representations in thinking about science. These images touch upon students’ attitudes towards science and their relevant aspirations. However, students’ images of scientists are complex constructs; hence more sophisticated and multidimensional instruments are required for their investigation.
Adequately and effectively using visual images poses significant challenges for science education and constitutes a multidimensional research field. This Research Topic welcomes original research, review, or opinion articles falling within its scope. Indicative themes include (but are not limited to):
• Visual literacy and science curricula
• Visual images and scientific literacy
• Visual representations in science teaching material
• Multiple visual representations in science teaching and learning
• Students’ meaning-making in science through visual images
• Students’ visual representations as evidence of their thinking and learning in science
• Visual representations in science education research
• Students’ difficulties in reading images in science
• Appropriateness criteria of visual images for science instruction
• Scaffolding students’ scientific visual literacy
• Science teaching and learning as multimodal practices
• Teachers’ preparedness in using visual representations in science teaching
• Students’ images of scientists and science
Visual images have always been a prevalent means of thinking and communicating in science. Images also dominate science teaching: science textbooks, digital educational material, websites, etc., use images to introduce, define, and analyze scientific ideas. Therefore, scientific literacy, which entails competency in communicating scientific ideas effectively, requires a variety of representational abilities, including the ability to interpret and create visual images. In this sense, scientific literacy is closely related to visual literacy, i.e., the ability to understand, interpret, and create images, and to think through images.
Furthermore, science education research has used visual images as a means of investigating students’ conceptions and views about diverse topics. For instance, data collection instruments that relied on visual images (e.g., Interviews About Instances, students’ drawings) have proven especially informative in tapping students’ conceptions about scientific topics.
Traditionally, science education has overlooked the importance of images and has mainly focused on verbal communication to investigate, mediate, teach, and evaluate science-related meanings. However, this approach is restricted since scientific knowledge is conceptualized and communicated through various modes, among which visual images are dominant. Furthermore, it has been misleadingly believed that the meaning mediated through images is self-evident and unambiguous and that students develop their ability to understand, create, and use them spontaneously. However, understanding, creating, and using images in the context of science education are demanding processes that require explicit instruction. Failing to acknowledge these necessities deprives students of familiarizing themselves with visual representations and using them adequately to understand and communicate scientific meanings. It is therefore essential that science education initiates students in understanding, interpreting, and using images to support them in thinking, communicating, and solving problems visually.
Moreover, visualization is an integral component of the public discourse about science and scientists. Students’ images of scientists are another manifestation of the prevalence of visual representations in thinking about science. These images touch upon students’ attitudes towards science and their relevant aspirations. However, students’ images of scientists are complex constructs; hence more sophisticated and multidimensional instruments are required for their investigation.
Adequately and effectively using visual images poses significant challenges for science education and constitutes a multidimensional research field. This Research Topic welcomes original research, review, or opinion articles falling within its scope. Indicative themes include (but are not limited to):
• Visual literacy and science curricula
• Visual images and scientific literacy
• Visual representations in science teaching material
• Multiple visual representations in science teaching and learning
• Students’ meaning-making in science through visual images
• Students’ visual representations as evidence of their thinking and learning in science
• Visual representations in science education research
• Students’ difficulties in reading images in science
• Appropriateness criteria of visual images for science instruction
• Scaffolding students’ scientific visual literacy
• Science teaching and learning as multimodal practices
• Teachers’ preparedness in using visual representations in science teaching
• Students’ images of scientists and science
