Structuring learning sequences

The sequence structures depicted and analysed in this chapter illustrate the core nature of the representation construction approach, at the same time as demonstrating the variation in types of challenge and communal discussion around representational refinement. While the dialectic process of representation construction / communal negotiation and refinement, is a central feature of the approach, the nature of the challenges, of the discussion, and how they intertwine, varies depending on topic and the particular representational purposes. The analysis has shown the way teachers move students towards canonical representations, through establishing representational need, and the strategic introduction of representational resources that are then extended and coordinated through the challenge. We have identified the particular challenges for teachers implied by this approach, and the corresponding rewards in student learning and teacher learning also. In the next chapters we will first construct a theoretical account justifying why this approach leads to quality learning in science, and then extend our claim that this work inevitably involves higher order thinking and reasoning, and that this is centrally connected to quality learning. We will analyse the sense in which representation construction involves reasoning that is different to classic syllogistic reasoning moves.