Multiple External Representations (MERs) as a Component of Special Language in Biology

Abstract

Dealing with multiple external representations (MERs) in science education is the key to students’ understanding of science communication and becoming scientifically literate. It is generally accepted that learning scientific concepts, processes, and principles requires understanding and interacting with MERs. Science can be understood as a multimodal discourse, and dealing with MERs becomes a premise for learning and developing representational competence. This study analyzes the use of different representations and the relationship between representational competence and different biological contexts. A competence model with the components integration by information selection and interpretation (MERI), integration by construction (MERII), and translation and transformation of different scientific representations (MERIII) was operationalized in three different biological task contexts (ecology, physiology, genetics) and two types of representation (diagram, schema). Data collection was carried out via test booklets. Participants were 548 first-year university students from various fields. The findings indicate that the components MERI and MERII of the competence model have a significant influence on item difficulty, while there was only a significant influence for the biological task context genetics, but no significant influence for the type of representation.