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Part of
Perspectives on Abstract Concepts: Cognition, language and communication
Edited by Marianna Bolognesi and Gerard J. Steen
[Human Cognitive Processing 65] 2019
► pp. 263–286

Chapter 12
The development of the abstract scientific concept of heat energy in a naturalistic classroom setting

Science aims to understand the physical and living world around us. To do this, it requires us to develop abstract ways of thinking. The aim of this chapter is to describe and explain how the abstract concepts of heat energy and heat transfer emerge and evolve during two secondary (high) school science lessons, by providing an account of how they are linguistically represented in discourse using a cognitive discursive framework. The analysis of a teacher-led demonstration, a group writing task, and an interview, during which pupils externalize their mental images in speech, writing, and in visual representations, shows how the discourse as well as the social and concrete here-and-now physical contexts, affect the development of these abstract concepts.

Keywords: classroom discourse, cognitive discursive framework, heat energy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework: Text World Theory
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Class demonstration of heat transfer
    • 4.1Adding levels of complexity
    • 4.2Introduction of heat energy into the discourse: Creating a hypothetical world
    • 4.3‘Capturing’ pupils’ mental SOURCE-PATH-GOAL schemas
    • 4.4Profiling the GOAL part of the schema
  • 5.Group task: Explaining heat transfer
    • 5.1Stimulated recall with pupils
    • 5.2Drawing mental images
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Transcription conventions
  • References
Published online: 6 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.65.13zac
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