Abstract:
This paper presents and discusses a theoretical framework for describing explanation in the science classroom. The proposed categories are based upon theoretical analyses of studies in Science Education, Linguistics, and Cognitive Science and on empirical investigations which involved the observation of secondary school science lessons in the London área. The result is a language of description of explanatory episodes which discusses: the creation of differences to motivate explanations, the construction of the entities of science in discourse; re-contextualisations of knowledge and; how demonstration puts meaning into matter. The potential of these results is discussed in the context of on going investigations.