This study investigates the progression of students’ meaning-making of epigenetic phenomena while discussing multiple visual representations depicted at different levels of biological organization. Semi-structured focus group sessions involving ninth-grade students (aged 15-16) from a Swedish lower secondary school were video recorded. Students’ meaning-making with regard to form, function and transfer of scientific ideas was explored by analyzing students’ physical pointing and verbal utterances while interacting with and discussing the epigenetic visual representations. The study uncovered four phases of progression in students’ meaning-making. In phase 1, students’ focus is on unpacking scientific ideas within a single representation. In phase 2, students apply and transfer scientific ideas between different visual representations at the same organizational level. In phase 3, their meaning-making develops into linking between various levels of organization. Here, downward linking, from higher to lower levels, relies on form descriptions that limit the transfer of scientific ideas. In contrast, upward linking, from lower to higher organizational levels, relies on both descriptions of form and functional explanations, which facilitates the transfer of scientific ideas. Finally, in Phase 4, and manifested as “yo-yo reasoning”, students engage in a dynamic and repeated process of downward and upward linking that expresses a coherent understanding of epigenetics. The study findings underscore the significance of recognizing progression phases in facilitating students’ meaning-making of multiple representations of epigenetic phenomena. Future research could expand on these insights by investigating students’ meaning-making across other science education domains.

这项研究调查了学生对表观遗传现象的意义建构的进展，同时讨论了在不同生物组织层次上描绘的多种视觉表征。对来自瑞典一所初中九年级学生（15-16 岁）的半结构化焦点小组会议进行了视频录制。通过分析学生的身体指向和言语表达，同时与表观遗传视觉表征互动和讨论，探索学生对科学思想的形式、功能和传递的意义建构。该研究揭示了学生意义建构的四个发展阶段。在第一阶段，学生的重点是在单一表示中解压缩科学思想。在第二阶段，学生在同一组织级别的不同视觉表现之间应用和转移科学思想。在第三阶段，它们的意义建构发展为组织各个层次之间的联系。在这里，从较高层次到较低层次的向下链接依赖于限制科学思想转移的形式描述。相比之下，从较低的组织层次到较高的组织层次的向上链接依赖于形式的描述和功能的解释，这有利于科学思想的转移。最后，在第四阶段，表现为“溜溜球推理”，学生参与一个动态的、重复的向下和向上链接的过程，表达对表观遗传学的连贯理解。研究结果强调了认识进展阶段对于促进学生对表观遗传现象的多重表征进行意义建构的重要性。未来的研究可以通过调查学生在其他科学教育领域的意义建构来扩展这些见解。