Primary and lower secondary students' perceptions of representational practices in science learning: focus on drawing and writing

The study examined students' perceptions related to emotional and cognitive engagement of linguistic and diagrammatic representational practices in science learning. Altogether, 251 Japanese sixth-grade (11-12 years old) and 187 ninth-grade students (14-15 years old) participated. The students' recognitions were measured by a self-report questionnaire and were scrutinised using the Rasch Rating Scale model. All participants valued both representational practices as important in science learning. Drawing was seen as a useful cognitive tool. However, participants did not have positive self-efficacy for either writing or drawing. While they lacked a confidence in their ability to write in science, had more positive beliefs of cognitive engagement in writing. Compared to the explanation activity, the students did not engage in representational practices in a metacognitive and communicative way, implying that they were not in a multimodal learning environment. The female students had less positive emotional engagement in science and representational practices than male students. The findings imply that diagrammatic conventions and procedural knowledge of using diverse representational forms should be emphasized in science curricula. Further research on the relationship between self-efficacy for representational practices, motivational engagements, and academic achievement is recommended, as well as cultural differences in student engagement in representational practices.