Hybridizing Cultural Understandings of the Natural World to Foster Critical Science Literacy by Kok Sing Tang A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Studies) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Elizabeth B. Moje, Co-Chair Professor Jay Lemke, Co-Chair Professor Brian P. Coppola Professor Deborah Keller-Cohen Professor Annemarie S. Palincsar © Kok Sing Tang 2011 Dedication To my beautiful wife and daughter, Natasha and Isabelle. ii Acknowledgements I am grateful to my committee for the intellectual stimulus and feedback that made this dissertation possible. My heartfelt thanks to Elizabeth Moje, who not only taught me the significance of youth culture and literacy, but also provided a model of scholarship and mentorship that will always inspire me. To Jay Lemke, whose profound knowledge of science discourse, semiotics, and social-critical theories, and whose insightful comments on my work over the years, have inspired and pushed me to be where I am today. To Annemarie Palincsar, whose expertise in learning theories and design-based research has guided my work in so many ways. To Brian Coppola, who provided an invaluable perspective that challenged and extended my thinking to a broader audience in the science education community. And to Deborah Keller-Cohen, who taught me valuable discourse analytical tools that made possible many insights in this study. In addition, I am also thankful to other professors in the University of Michigan who have mentored and nurtured me in one way or another, most notably Mary Schleppegrell, Chris Quintana, Lesley Rex, and Joe Krajcik. Special thanks to the student participants of this research who were extremely helpful and patient with my countless questions and many observations and recordings of their every move in class. They have taught and shared with me their colorful activities outside the school, which made my research much more enjoyable and memorable. I am iii indebted to Stephen Tighe, who not only graciously allowed me to work with him in his fourth-hour physics class, but also committed much of his energy and time to make this research a great success. Through this partnership, I have learned much from him on the use of literacy in a science classroom and the American educational system and culture. I also want to express my sincere thanks to Wendy Burns who kindly permitted and helped me to administer surveys in her physics class. I am grateful to Nanyang Technological University of Singapore for sponsoring my Ph.D. study and Rackham Graduate School of the University of Michigan for funding part of this dissertation research. Above all else, this dissertation would never have been completed without the constant and sacrificial love, support, and encouragement from my wife, Natasha Rappa. Besides the intellectual ideas, help, and feedback she has given me as a fellow educator, she was most of all my emotional anchor that kept me going through the ups and downs of my research and graduate study. iv Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii List of Figures ......................................................................................................................x List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices ........................................................................................................... xiii Glossary ........................................................................................................................... xiv Transcription Notations ................................................................................................... xvi Abstract ........................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................1 Rationale of Research ......................................................................................................1 Multiple Representations of Natural World .................................................................1 Hybridizing Understandings ........................................................................................7 Critical Scientific Literacy ...........................................................................................9 Purpose & Goals ............................................................................................................11 Research Questions ........................................................................................................13 Overview of Chapters ....................................................................................................14 Chapter 2: Theoretical & Empirical Literature Review ..............................................18 New Literacies Studies & Social Semiotics...................................................................18 Literacy Practices Embedded in Discourses .............................................................18 Multimodality & Meanings ........................................................................................21 v Out-of-school Literacies ................................................................................................24 Multiliteracies ............................................................................................................24 Third Space Studies in Science ..................................................................................26 Hybridity & Space .........................................................................................................29 In-between Space – Bhabha’s Hybridity....................................................................30 Hybridizing Voices – Bakhtin’s Intertextuality ..........................................................31 Spatializing Space – Latour’s Actor-Network Theory ...............................................33 Chapter 3: Methodology in Researching Third Space .................................................35 Theoretical & Methodological Framework ...................................................................35 Design-based Research & Curricular Approach ............................................................42 Rationale for Using Design-based Research Methods ..............................................42 Curricular Design of Multimedia Text-Synergy ........................................................44 Selection of Site & Participants .....................................................................................46 Why High School? Why Physics? ..............................................................................47 Selection of Teacher(s), Class, & Student Informants ...............................................49 Description of Setting & Participants ............................................................................51 The School & Community ..........................................................................................51 The Teacher ...............................................................................................................51 The Class & Students .................................................................................................53 The Researcher ..........................................................................................................55 The Curriculum & Integration of Text-Synergy.........................................................58 Data Sources ..................................................................................................................61 Interviews ...................................................................................................................61 Textual Artifacts .........................................................................................................63 Participant-Observation ............................................................................................64 Surveys and Test-scores .............................................................................................65 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................66 Constant Comparative Analysis .................................................................................67 Discourse Analysis .....................................................................................................69 Mixed Methods ...........................................................................................................71 Issues of Validity ...........................................................................................................72 vi Chapter 4: Connecting Youth Lifeworld: Trajectories of Texts, Experiences, and Funds of Knowledge .................................75 Overview of Choice Texts .............................................................................................75 Understanding Youths’ Uses of and Experiences with Texts.....................................79 Literacy Practices