Images of physics: an explorative study of the changing character of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks

Abstract

Images are important elements of the communication of physics in textbooks. This paper presents an explorative study of visual images in a sample of nine different Norwegian physics textbooks from 1943 till present. Analysis makes use of the dimensions content specialization, framing and formality. A set of five modes of imaging physics, that also takes characteristics of physics as a discipline into account, is constructed. A meta-analysis of transitions and contrasts between the modes represented in textbooks is then presented in a historical perspective. It is found an increased content specialisation during the time period investigated, which involves a shift from realistic to conventional images. This is associated with an altered focus from experiments to models of physics. In newer textbooks, realism is rather present through images of real scientists at work and through pedagogical models. Based on analysis of framing in images, it is argued that the role of the learner is hence altered from a potential scientist to the one of a consumer of the products of science. Further, it is shown how pedagogical models common in newer textbooks may entail an under-communicated abstraction, where the content specialisation is low while the formality of the image remains high.