Meaning-Making in Ecology Education: Analysis of Students’ Multimodal Texts

Teaching and learning in ecology depend on multimodality, involving semiotic resources such as visual representations, subject-specific symbols, written spoken language. Furthermore, the field involves complex processes relationships, presenting student challenges. However, more research has yet to investigate how students design multimodal texts represent biological processes. For a holistic understanding of ecology, it is crucial understand different processes, matter cycle, energy flow, decomposition, their relations. Therefore, this study aims to, through text analysis based systemic functional linguistics (SFL), identify secondary collectively present combine they position themselves textual choices. Results indicate that representing comprises several challenges for students. One way which shown unclear use meaning arrows. Thereto, include various aspects uncommon example, symbols inspired by comic books, values, role humans, thereby relating ecosystems interests everyday life. Implications teaching are discussed, instance, importance supporting terms scientific content it, can be conducted discussions.