ABSTRACT
A key aspect of science is how ideas are related to create explanations. Yet, reflecting their knowledge-blindness, dominant approaches to researching science education neglect these relations. Maton and Doran introduce the method of constellation analysis from Legitimation Code Theory as a way of revealing how ideas are brought together in different ways and the effects these differences have for teaching science. This innovative method is used to analyze explanations of the tides and seasons. In each case the logic of explanations presented in school textbooks is analyzed and compared to how the explanation is taught in a classroom. These analyses show that explanations of seemingly similar kinds of phenomena differ in terms of how ideas are related together and that the logic of these relations impacts on how they are taught in classrooms. Constellation analysis offers a new analytic method with huge potential as a practical tool for researchers, curriculum designers, educators and students.
