Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in
Norwegian physics textbooks
Berit Bungum
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
berit.bungum@ntnu.no
Abstract
Images are important elements of the communication of physics in textbooks. This paper
presents a study of visual images in a sample of nine different Norwegian physics textbooks
from 1943 till present. It investigates the variation in how images articulate the nature of
physics as a school subject, and how this variation relates to time periods, age level and
specific authors. By means of a framework of three dimensions; content specialization,
framing, and formality, a typology of five modes of imaging physics is developed inductively
from the sample of textbooks. These modes are: involving the learner in experiments,
visualizing a world of models, showing the actual appearance of objects, translating between
representations, and demonstrating relevance and use.
The sample of textbooks is analysed quantitatively in terms of these modes. Results indicate a
shift from realistic to conventional images and a somewhat higher formality in the images
during the time period investigated. There also seems to be a shift of involvement of the
learner in the text from involvement in experiments to demonstrating relevance and use of
physics in society. Little systematic variation is found in modes of images used for the lower
and upper level of secondary school. The largest difference is, however, found between
specific textbooks independent of time and school level. It seems that authors develop specific
patterns in their use of modes of images for given purposes. These may influence pupils’
learning and their view of the nature of physics as a subject and research enterprise.
Background, Aims and Framework
A range of studies indicates that teachers to a high degree make use of the textbook in their
planning and teaching (Nelson, 2006), even in a time where other sources of information are
easily available. Hence the textbook is essential in how the nature of a subject is
communicated to learners. Textbooks are not merely simplified versions of academic
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Berit Bungum: Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks
literature in the field, but a re-contextualisation of this knowledge according to the organising
principles, prevailing conventions and legitimate ideologies of the school subject
(Dimopoulos, Koulaidis & Sklaveniti, 2003). Since physics textbooks are multimodal texts,
visual images play a key role in this re-contextualization together with graphs, formulas and
the verbal text (Lemke, 1998).
This paper focuses on visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks during a period of six
decades. It investigates the various ways in which the images communicate the nature of
physics in interplay with other forms of representations, and to what factors the variation can
be ascribed.
The research questions are:

In what ways do visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks communicate the
nature of the subject?

To what degree can variation in the use of images be ascribed to specific time periods,
specific authors and school level?
The analysis of images has made use of a conceptual framework from Dimopoulos et al.
(2003). Building on the work of Bernstein, Halliday, Kress and van Leeuwen, they provide
three dimensions for analysis of visual images:

Degree of content specialisation (classification), entailing types and function of the
image. Types are classified as realistic, hybrids and conventional with increasing use
of physics conventions. Functions of images are classified as narrative, classificational,
analytical and metaphorical.

Strength of framing; (negative) degree of involvement of the reader in the socialpedagogical relationship constituted by the image.

Degree of formality; the degree of abstraction in the image.
The concepts this framework provides are used in constructing the typology of images in the
physics textbooks.
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Berit Bungum: Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks
Methods and Sample
The sample consists of nine physics textbooks used in Norwegian lower and upper secondary
school in the period from 1943 till present. In two cases two editions of the same textbook
were chosen in order to trace changes over time. In addition, two of the books have identical
authors.
Analysis was undertaken by first categorizing individual images in terms of the dimensions
presented. Secondly, five modes of images were constructed based on the categorizations and
the images’ function in the text as a whole. Finally, images in the textbooks were coded in
terms of these modes, and the relative presence of modes were calculated for each textbook.
analysed quantitatively in terms of the of the identified modes. This final analysis
concentrated on the parts of the books dealing with electricity and magnetism, in order to
avoid effects of changes in the curriculum’s prescriptions of topics during the time period
chosen.
Results
From the analysis, five main modes of communicating the nature of physics were identified in
the visual images:
1. Involving the learner in experiments
These images are characterised by being realistic with weak framing, high content
specialisation but low formality. The image together with the verbal text presents how a
specific experiment is undertaken, and what will happen. The result of the experiment is then
used for introduction and discussion of physics concepts or relationships. This subject matter,
rather than the experiment itself, often appear as the main aim of the sequence. Nevertheless
the text gives the reader the sense of participating in experimental activity and this way
strongly communicates experiments as an important basis for the development of knowledge
in physics.
2. Visualising a world of models
A great deal of images in physics textbooks intend to represent theoretical models of physical
phenomena by visual means. They may be seemingly realistic, but represent conventions in
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Berit Bungum: Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks
how the world is perceived in physics. Their function is analytical or in some cases
classificational. This mode of representing physics also includes images that portray
generalized ‘inscriptions’ (Latour & Woolgar, 1979) of the world in terms of graphs or
diagrams, describing physics phenomena as consistent mathematical patterns.
These two types of images have in common that they demonstrate for the learner that physics
is about representing the world in a different way than how it is usually perceived, i.e. by the
use of models, and that learning physics means to learn to see the world this way.
3. Showing the actual appearance of objects
This mode of imaging in physics textbooks presents the actual appearance of objects. It
embraces realistic images of objects in themselves, free of contexts such as experiments or
otherwise. The purpose is to familiarize the learner with specific objects important in physics.
4. Translating between representations
A hybrid of the conventional and realistic images in modes 2 and 3 gives rise to a specific
mode of visualisation, creating links between the actual appearance of objects or systems and
how features of these are represented in the models used in physics. The role of the image in
the text is hence to perform a translation between the two ways of representing the world.
5. Demonstrating relevance and use
These images demonstrate for the learner how the subject matter presented has relevance and
is used in society and daily life by presenting objects and systems well known to the learner.
They contribute to a reduction in formality and weakening of framing in the text as a whole,
but are often independent of the flow of other text.
The typology presented above is used in the final phase of analysis, where each textbook is
analysed with respect to possible patterns in modes of imaging. In comparing the results for
individual textbooks, some changes over the time span analyzed could be identified,
especially with regards to increasing formality in the images. We also see a move from
realistic to conventional images, involving a strengthening of the framing, i.e. less
involvement of the learner.
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Berit Bungum: Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks
With the exception of mathematical formalism, it appears to be no important difference
between how images appear in textbooks for levels corresponding to lower and upper
secondary school. Identical images were frequently found in books intended for different
levels. Reforms in the formal curricula also seem to have had little influence on the kind of
images used.
The strongest pattern is found in differences between specific textbooks; they seem to adopt
certain modes of visualizing physics, to such a degree that it can be seen as forming specific
genres. For example, in one textbook widely used during several decades until early 1970s,
more than half of the images are classified as Involving the learner in experiments,
consistently used to introduce new concepts and relationship, and hence highlighting
experiments as a basis for knowledge in physics. One of the two leading textbooks used today
is dominated by images of the mode Translating between representations, while the other
tend to use images as a tool for Visualizing the models of physics. Both books have fewer
images of the modes Involving the learner in experiments and Showing the actual appearance
of objects than older textbooks, but tend to present more images in the Demonstrating
relevance and use mode. Involvement of the learner in the physics presented in textbooks thus
seems to have shifted from involvement in experiments to involvement in the sense of
recognising physics in everyday surroundings.
It seems reasonable to ascribe the variation between individual textbooks to the preferences of
individual authors. However, it was also found that authors of books for different types and
levels of schools showed major variation in the pattern of images in their textbooks. Hence
authors, or publishers, seem to develop and pursue a specific pattern for each book.
Conclusions and Implications
This study has identified a variety of how images in physics textbooks present the subject.
Awareness of this variety is important for teachers as well as textbook writers. The increasing
formality and the move that has been observed from realistic images and experiments to
images that require familiarity with conventions of science is a matter of particular concern.
This development may reinforce ‘cascades of inscriptions’ (Roth, Tobin & Shaw, 1997),
where the transitions between representations are not transparent to physics newcomers.
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Berit Bungum: Imaging the nature of physics: A study of visual images in Norwegian physics textbooks
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