Reading Images for Knowledge Building Analyzing Infographics in School Science

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Images In Disciplinary Discourse in School Science

PART I Disciplinary Discourse for Knowledge Building: Systemic Functional Semiotic Perspectives

2. Mass and presence

PART II Image Complexity – Mass

3. Technicality

4. Iconization

5. Aggregation

PART III Image Recognizability – Presence

6. Explicitness

7. Affiliation

8. Congruence

PART IV Applying Image Analyses for Knowledge Representation

9. Mass Presence and Cumulative Knowledge Building

10. Mass and Presence in Biology, Chemistry and Physics Textbook Infographics

Biography

J.R. Martin is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. His research interests include systemic theory, functional grammar, discourse semantics, register, genre, multimodality and positive discourse analysis (PDA), focusing on English, Tagalog and Korean. He was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1998, was Head of its Linguistics Section from 2010–2012, and was awarded a Centenary Medal for his services to linguistics and philology in 2003. In April 2014, Shanghai Jiao Tong University opened its Martin Centre for Appliable Linguistics, appointing Professor Martin as Director.

Len Unsworth is Professor in English and Literacies Education in the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE) at the Australian Catholic University. Len’s current research interests include systemic functional semiotic perspectives on multimodal and digital disciplinary literacies and in English curricula. His most recent books include Multimodal Literacy in School Science: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Theory, Research and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2022), Learning from Animations in Science Education: Innovating in Semiotic and Educational Research (2020), and Literacy for Digital Futures: Mind, Body, Text with Kathy Mills and Laura Scholes (Routledge, 2022). https://lenunsworth.wordpress.com/.

"The book represents a substantial contribution to bothsemiotics and science education. Its comprehensive framework for analysing the complexity and recognizability of infographics provides valuable insights into how images organize the complexity and abstraction of meaning. Furthermore, it offers practical guidance for educators to facilitate science teaching through the use of infographics. This book is thus highly recommended for researchers in semiotics and science education, and educators seeking effective methods to utilize infographics in science instruction." - Zhigang Yu, Beijing Institute of Technology, Visual Communication

"...the book is undoubtedly of particular benefit to researchers in semiotics who are concerned with multimodality in academic discourse, researchers in literacy education and science education who are concerned with empirical resources at stake for knowledge building, and school science teachers who are concerned with an explicit metalanguage for expounding on infographics in pedagogical practice." - Ying Hua, Shanghai Dianji University, Language and Education

"Martin and Unsworth’s book is an informative, engaging and well-structured
volume solely devoted to analyzing infographics for knowledge building in school science from the systemic functional semiotic perspective. It is such a comprehensive and meticulous work that makes a significant contribution to science pedagogy, multimodal literacy as well as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Theoretically rooted in social semiotics and
systemic functional linguistics, the authors’ framework for analyzing infographics is thorough and accessible, offering valuable insights into the complexity and recognizability of scientific infographics." - Yanxiu Li, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Social Semiotics