FROM INTERACTION TO INTERACTION: EXPLORING SHARED RESOURCES CONSTRUCTED THROUGH AND MEDIATING CLASSROOM SCIENCE LEARNING

Recent reform documents and science education literature emphasize the importance of scientific argumentation as a discourse and practice of science that should be supported in school science learning. Much of this literature focuses on the structure of argument, whether for assessing the quality of argument or designing instructional scaffolds. This study challenges the narrowness of this research paradigm and argues for the necessity of examining students' argumentative practices as rooted in the complex, evolving system of the classroom. Employing a sociocultural-historical lens of activity theory (Engestrӧm, 1987, 1999), discourse analysis is employed to explore how a high school biology class continuously builds affordances and constraints for argumentation practices through interactions. The ways in which argumentation occurs, including the nature of teacher and student participation, are influenced by learning goals, classroom norms, teacher-student relationships and epistemological stances constructed through a class' interactive history. Based on such findings, science education should consider promoting classroom scientific argumentation as a long-term process, requiring supportive resources that develop through continuous classroom interactions. Moreover, in order to understand affordances that support disciplinary learning in classroom, we need to look beyond just disciplinary interactions. This work has implications for classroom research on argumentation and teacher education, specifically, the preparation of teachers for secondary science teaching

Not just sheer pleasure: Critiquing animations and their scope in children’s socialisation

As the title suggests, the dissertation focusses on critiquing animations to understand their scope in children’s socialisation, as to what extent animations could offer a type of content that possesses an ‘edutainment’ value. As a result, animations (1) attempt to reinforce some ‘intrinsic’ values related to a variety of subjects/themes, including personal growth, meaningful relationships, and social responsibility, (2) providing children with an opportunity to rehearse those values that are deemed key elements for their socialisation. To understand this more closely, we have analysed animations from five different perspectives, leading the dissertation to be designed as a ‘patchwork quilt’ (Wibben, 2011). This metaphor implies that the five chapters are autonomously distinct and deal with exclusive frameworks that are later contextually assimilated in the conclusion to provide the reader with a complete picture that vindicates animations’ scope in children’s socialisation. Chapter I looks at the framework of the ‘odyssey’ employed in animations as a metaphor for personal growth and identity-formation. Chapter II focusses on how Doraemon reconceptualises the features of the classical Greek/Aristotelian form of ‘tragedy’ to develop its own postmodern critique of the Seven Deadly Sins through the image of its transgressive protagonist. Chapter III studies the role of ‘utopianism’ in children’s superhero narratives that inspires a more critical mode of hoping and envisions social progress and welfare. Chapter IV is founded upon the concept of the ‘feminine aesthetic’ to (1) analyse the transition and development of animated women’s representation from passivity to subjectivity and individuality, and (2) briefly explore the evolving representations of new, subversive masculinities. Chapter V emphasises the significance of ‘anthropomorphism’ in children’s media, and is informed by the literary genre of animal autobiography to critique animal-centric narratives as tales of animal liberation that reposition and rehabilitate the ‘human-animal kinship, bestowing ‘the animal’ with a voice

Chasing Mythical Beasts

Classical Antiquity is strongly present in youth culture globally. It accompanies children during their initiation into adulthood and thereby deepens their knowledge of the cultural code based on the Greek and Roman heritage. It enables intergenerational communication, with the reception of the Classics being able to serve as a marker of transformations underway in societies the world over. The team of contributors from Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand focuses on the reception of mythical creatures as the key to these transformations, including the changes in human mentality. The volume gathers the results of a stage of the programme ‘Our Mythical Childhood’, supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Alumni Award for Innovative Networking Initiatives and an ERC Consolidator Grant. Thanks to the multidisciplinary character of its research (Classics, Modern Philologies, Animal Studies) and to the universal importance of the theme of childhood, the volume offers stimulating reading for scholars, students, and educators, as well as for a wider audience

Chasing Mythical Beasts

Classical Antiquity is strongly present in youth culture globally. It accompanies children during their initiation into adulthood and thereby deepens their knowledge of the cultural code based on the Greek and Roman heritage. It enables intergenerational communication, with the reception of the Classics being able to serve as a marker of transformations underway in societies the world over. The team of contributors from Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand focuses on the reception of mythical creatures as the key to these transformations, including the changes in human mentality. The volume gathers the results of a stage of the programme ‘Our Mythical Childhood’, supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Alumni Award for Innovative Networking Initiatives and an ERC Consolidator Grant. Thanks to the multidisciplinary character of its research (Classics, Modern Philologies, Animal Studies) and to the universal importance of the theme of childhood, the volume offers stimulating reading for scholars, students, and educators, as well as for a wider audience

Our Mythical Hope

Classical Antiquity is a particularly important field in terms of “Hope studies” […]. For centuries, the ancient tradition, and classical mythology in particular, has been a common reference point for whole hosts of creators of culture, across many parts of the world, and with the new media and globalization only increasing its impact. Thus, in our research at this stage, we have decided to study how the authors of literary and audiovisual texts for youth make use of the ancient myths to support their young protagonists (and readers or viewers) in crucial moments of their existence, on their road into adulthood, and in those dark hours when it seems that life is about to shatter and fade away. However, if Hope is summoned in time, the crisis can be overcome and the protagonist grows stronger, with a powerful uplifting message for the public. […] Owing to this, we get a chance to remain true to our ideas, to keep faith in our dreams, and, when the decisive moment comes, to choose not hatred but love, not darkness but light. Katarzyna Marciniak, University of Warsaw, From the introductory chapte