Visual information and epistemic objects in scientific practices: The missing link and the role of new technologies in meeting the learning challenge

Visual information (i.e. photographs, diagrams, tables, charts) are a part of science since the visual information make it possible for scientists to understand complex phenomena and might convey important evidence not observable in other ways. Numerous studies have explored the use of images in science textbooks, students’ representations or models when doing science, students’ images of science and  scientists.  However  the

examination of the epistemic potential of visual information has been a largely ignored area of educational research. For instance, questions such as how visual data become epistemic in nature in science and how can the underlying processes be simulated in the science learning environment have typically been overlooked. In this talk I will identify and detail the use of visual information in science drawing out some applications in science education including the articulation of the role of new technologies. In particular, I will conceptualise the processes through which visual information become epistemic objects in contemporary instances of scientific journals that use digital media. I will also draw examples from school-based research in science teaching and learning to frame the implications for science education including the instantiation of the norms, the knowledge and the public engagement of visual information that embrace new technologies in scientific practices.

The Rector of the Bayburt University will give an opening talk and his perspective to host this conference. Moreover, he is going to share his own experience in education and provide his suggestions for prospective scholars.

IDEAL Technologies for Mathematics Learning: Opportunities and Challenges

The available technologies for teaching and learning, both in and out of school have expanded tremendously during the first decade of this century.  Alongside computers and calculators we have iPods, iPhones, and now iPads; hand-held computing devices such as the TI-nSpire (which operates more like a computer than a calculator); networked calculators; wireless response systems; scientific  probes  that  can  be  connected  to  hand-held 

devices or computers for generating real data in real time (CBL’s and CBR’s); Interactive SMART Boards and now, interactive SMART Tables for collaborative problem solving activities.  The explosion in web-based resources for finding information, for social networking, for entertainment and for collaborative problem solving in on-line communities has changed the way we live our lives – outside of school.  Perhaps one powerful reason for why almost a third of the students entering high schools in the USA “drop out” before completing their high school diploma is that education in many schools is presented in the same way as it was in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  The educational process in school bares little resemblance to how people learn outside of school – this presents both opportunities and challenges.  As educators, we need to investigate how children and young adults are making use of the technological environment in which they live and what they are learning from that use. As mathematics educators, we need to understand how we might harness this technological environment to enhance the learning and teaching of mathematics – both in school and out-of-school.

In my talk I will present examples of a variety of these new technologies that are being developed for use both in school and out-of-school. All of these examples share the themes of this conference: they are Dynamic, Explorative and Active Learning environments.