Capturing children’s ideas in science through the use of mini whiteboards: A case study of children with SEND

Research which has aimed to understand how children come to acquire ideas about different science concepts has had a long history (Vosniadou, 2008, Driver et al, 1994). However, these studies have explored conceptual knowledge largely through verbal reports, whilst successful, these approaches were critiqued as they did not capture a comprehensive understanding of knowledge growth particularly if children are not able to clearly or fully articulate their ideas (Goldin-Meadows, 2000). In more recent research this bias towards language has been challenged and investigations have begun to consider multimodal aspects of children’s communication in science lessons (Jewitt, 2011). Multimodal research has begun to demonstrate how other communication strategies can provide a more holistic understanding of children’s knowledge growth (Callinan, 2015). This paper discusses the results drawn from a recent case study which aimed to explore how children with SEND use mini whiteboards in order to express their ideas about floating and sinking. The case study focused on a four week science intervention undertaken with a class of 8 children (10 – 11 years old) with behavioural needs and attending a special needs school. The children were encouraged to capture their ideas about the topic throughout the course of the intervention, this paper focuses on how the children used mini whiteboards to demonstrate increasingly complex scientific ideas. The children’s whiteboard representations were captured using a camera throughout the lessons. Preliminary findings indicated that the children preferred to discuss their ideas using the whiteboard rather than in the formal test and through verbal discussions. These findings demonstrate that the children were more confident when drawing on other multimodal resources than those typically used in school assessments (e.g. spoken or written word forms). This presentation will explore the initial findings from this pilot study and will discuss plans for further development of the intervention