The sciences are, in essence, highly semiotized. Our ways of thinking and communicating about science are based on permanent transformations from one system of signs to another, such as scriptural, graphic, symbolic, oral and gestural signs. The semiotic focus studied in this book makes it possible to grasp part of the complexity of teaching and learning phenomena by focusing on the variety of possible interpretations of the signs that circulate within the science classroom. Semiotic Approaches in Science Didactics brings together contributions from didactic research involving various disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, physics and geography, which mobilize different types of semiotic support. It offers the key to understanding and even reducing some of the misunderstandings that can arise between a speaker and a receiver in scientific teaching situations.

“Semiotics Education Experience” is a collection of fifteen essays edited by Inna Semetsky that explores semiotic approaches to education: semiotics of teaching, learning, and curriculum; educational theory and philosophies of Dewey, Peirce, and Deleuze; education as political semiosis; logic and mathematics; visual signs; semiotics and complexity; semiotics and ethics of the self. This is a landmark collection of cross-disciplinary chapters by international scholars that mark out the appeal and significance of a semiotic approach to education. As Marcel Danesi reminds us in the Foreword, Vygotsky construed learning theory as the science of signs. Semetsky’'-s collection should be widely read by students and scholars in education, philosophy, futures studies, cultural studies, and related disciplines. It deserves the widest dissemination. Michael A Peters, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Editor, Educational Philosophy & Theory and Policy Futures in Education

A 25-year teacher of Italian as a second language, Danesi (education, U. of Toronto) proposes that the challenges posed by classroom language learning could be studied much more profitably from the particular perspective of semiotic theory than from that of other sciences. Based on a series of research projects, the results of which he describes as showing how powerful semiotics is as a framework for that purpose, he introduces teachers, educators, applied linguists, and others to its application. He assumes readers to have a solid grounding in semiotics itself, and suggest works to read first for people who do not. He includes an extensive glossary of technical terms, but does not indicate how to pronounce them. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

Semiotic Theory of Learning asks what learning is and what brings it about, challenging the hegemony of psychological and sociological constructions of learning in order to develop a burgeoning literature in semiotics as an educational foundation. Drawing on theoretical research and its application in empirical studies, the book attempts to avoid the problematization of the distinction between theory and practice in semiotics. It covers topics such as signs, significance and semiosis; the ontology of learning; the limits of learning; ecosemiotics; ecology and sexuality. The book is written by five of the key figures in the semiotics field, each committed to the belief that living is a process of interaction through acts of signification with a signifying environment. While the authors are agreed on the value of semiotic frameworks, the book aims not to present an entirely coherent line in every respect, but rather to reflect ongoing scholarship and debates in the area. In light of this, the book offers a range of possible interpretations of major semiotic theorists, unsettling assumptions while offering a fresh, and still developing, series of perspectives on learning from academics grounded in semiotics. Semiotic Theory of Learning is a timely and valuable text that will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates working in the fields of educational studies, semiotics, psychology, philosophy, applied linguistics and media studies.

Semiotics is the science of signs and symbols, it focuses on meaning making processes. "Signs & Symbols in Education: Educational Semiotics" is a highly original work of scholarship, helpful to semioticians, teacher educators, and all those interested in how professionals learn through experience. The author, Francois Victor Tochon, is professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In four ingeniously designed studies, Francois Victor Tochon demonstrates how semiotic analysis can be used to deconstruct the professional learning experiences of preservice teachers. Educational Semiotics is truly a groundbreaking work on a number of fronts. In a concise and brilliant introductory comments, Tochon debunks the potential notion that semiotics might provide yet another methodological tool in the toolkit of educational researchers. He shows how fundamentally different semiotic research can be when compared to the modes and techniques that have dominated educational research for decades. Tochon (pronounce 'touch on') offers us a sampling of practical teaching and research tools based in semiotic principles that help move education away from fixed methods imposing best practices and rigid standards. Tochon is pointing the way to a new field of endeavor that he has termed Educational Semiotics. He raises contemporary questions about the search for meaning and the processes through which we make meaning. Learning is meaning-making, in all levels of life. The implications of this work are profound and their potential for further investigation is enormous."

This volume discusses semiotics in mathematics education as an activity with a formal sign system, in which each sign represents something else. Theories presented by Saussure, Peirce, Vygotsky and other writers on semiotics are summarized in their relevance to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The significance of signs for mathematics education lies in their ubiquitous use in every branch of mathematics. Such use involves seeing the general in the particular, a process that is not always clear to learners. Therefore, in several traditional frameworks, semiotics has the potential to serve as a powerful conceptual lens in investigating diverse topics in mathematics education research. Topics that are implicated include (but are not limited to): the birth of signs; embodiment, gestures and artifacts; segmentation and communicative fields; cultural mediation; social semiotics; linguistic theories; chains of signification; semiotic bundles; relationships among various sign systems; intersubjectivity; diagrammatic and inferential reasoning; and semiotics as the focus of innovative learning and teaching materials.

The International Handbook of Science Education is a two volume edition pertaining to the most significant issues in science education. It is a follow-up to the first Handbook, published in 1998, which is seen as the most authoritative resource ever produced in science education. The chapters in this edition are reviews of research in science education and retain the strong international flavor of the project. It covers the diverse theories and methods that have been a foundation for science education and continue to characterize this field. Each section contains a lead chapter that provides an overview and synthesis of the field and related chapters that provide a narrower focus on research and current thinking on the key issues in that field. Leading researchers from around the world have participated as authors and consultants to produce a resource that is comprehensive, detailed and up to date. The chapters provide the most recent and advanced thinking in science education making the Handbook again the most authoritative resource in science education.