Drawing meaning from student-generated drawings: exploring chemistry teachers’ noticing

Abstract

This study explored experienced chemistry teachers’ noticing when using student-generated drawings as evidence. While drawings of chemical entities and processes may offer valuable information on student thinking, little is known about how teachers draw meaning from student drawings. To explore this area, we investigated three experienced chemistry teachers’ noticing. Teacher noticing refers to the processes through which teachers pay attention to certain observable information, and interpret what they attend to. In this study, we examined what types of drawing features stood out to teachers, and what analytic approaches (or stances) they used. We collected data on teachers’ in-the-moment noticing (within their active classrooms), and on their delayed noticing (when teachers reviewed drawings after class). The findings demonstrate teachers’ ability to attend to chemistry-specific details in students’ drawings in both noticing settings. Teachers recognised several visual forms in student drawings, depictions of quantities, chemical entities at different length scales, and various chemical properties and behaviours. Findings furthermore showcase how two common analytic approaches (i.e. evaluation and sense making) can manifest in a drawing context. The study's results, tied to real classroom settings, yield ways of looking at student drawings that may help (beginning) chemistry teachers to leverage drawing activities as a window into student thinking. The study's analytic framework and detailed characterisations could furthermore be used by teacher educators and researchers who are seeking to support or examine teacher noticing as a key aspect of (chemistry) teacher expertise.