A science teacher's lens on research: design and delivery of digital learning sequences using the language of science

The language of science involves more than just the text and images we see in textbooks, it includes the use of gestures, models, and animations. These 'multimodal representations' have a long history in science and are increasingly considered to be important tools for thinking about and learning scientific concepts and practices. (Ainsworth et al., 2011). The use of multimodal representations emphasise different aspects of a given concept (e.g., descriptions, spatial relationships, motion) and enables a deeper understanding of complex concepts such as force, energy transfer or photosynthesis. Indeed, scientific concepts can only be understood as the sum of the representations that describe them (Lemke, 2004). More than memorising static facts or text-based definitions, developing scientific understanding involves creating meaning through the language of science, as a disciplinary literacy (Tytler et al., 2018).