The cultural formation of science knowledge: theorizing the relations between methodology and digital visual research methods

As digital technologies have become more developed, new ways of researching have emerged and greater insights into the cultural nature of science established. Yet methodologies have not kept pace with the new methods that have become available. This is not a new problem. Vygotsky wrote that the core issue for researchers was to show the relations between the method and the methodology. In his time, his system of concepts gave insights into this theoretical problem. The principles he developed included the following: (a) creating in a condensed form scientific concept formation, (b) the processes rather than the end product of development should be studied, (c) understandings form in social relations rather than in the head of the individual, and (d) the researcher’s role should be included in the data set rather than made invisible. In this chapter we build upon what is known theoretically about a cultural-historical methodology by presenting an overview of the central cultural-historical concepts that we have identified in the collected works of Vygotsky that are relevant to digital visual methodology for researching in science education. We showcase examples of new digital tools that we have designed and used in our Conceptual PlayLab (https://www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld/about-research) when studying teachers, young children, and their families engaged in STEM learning. We argue that the introduction of new digital visual tools will continue to emerge, and therefore theorizing a cultural-historical methodology is urgently needed for framing the rich conceptual work that takes place when researchers study learning in science education across multiple cultural contexts.