Exploring the role of physics representations: an illustrative example from students sharing knowledge about refraction

Fredlund, Tobias; Airey, John; Linder, Cedric

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/33/3/657

Cited by 88 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…First, we would claim that the IR imaging technology brings with it immediate appeal and intuition. With respect to the domain of thermal phenomena, an IR camera offers disciplinary affordances (Fredlund et al 2012), and invites pupils to actively engage in 'what-if' investigations. Second, the task at hand was moderately challenging for the particular age group.…”

Section: Revisiting the Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, since IR cameras provide predominately macroscopic disciplinary affordances (Fredlund et al 2012), this technology is of limited value in the teaching of a particle interaction model of thermal phenomena. Here, instead we find other technology more attractive, such as particle interaction simulations (Wiser and Amin 2001; Perkins et al 2006;Xie and Tinker 2006), which is another approach to make the invisible visible.…”

Section: Educational Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Taking on the Heat—a Narrative Account of How Infrared Cameras Invite Instant Inquiry

2015

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Integration of technology, social learning and scientific models offers pedagogical opportunities for science education. A particularly interesting area is thermal science, where students often struggle with abstract concepts, such as heat. In taking on this conceptual obstacle, we explore how hand-held infrared (IR) visualization technology can strengthen students’ understanding of thermal phenomena. Grounded in the Swedish physics curriculum and part of a broader research programme on educational uses of IR cameras, we have developed laboratory exercises around a thermal storyline, in conjunction with the teaching of a heat-flow model. We report a narrative analysis of how a group of five fourth-graders, facilitated by a researcher, predicts, observes and explains (POE) how the temperatures change when they pour hot water into a ceramic coffee mug and a thin plastic cup. Four chronological episodes are described and analysed as group interaction unfolded. Results revealed that the students engaged cognitively and emotionally with the POE task and, in particular, held a sustained focus on making observations and offering explanations for the scenarios. A compelling finding was the group’s spontaneous generation of multiple "what-ifs" in relation to thermal phenomena, such as blowing on the water surface, or submerging a pencil into the hot water. This was followed by immediate interrogation with the IR camera, a learning event we label instant inquiry. The students’ expressions largely reflected adoption of the heat-flow model. In conclusion, IR cameras could serve as an access point for even very young students to develop complex thermal concepts.

As per the Springer Copyright agreement, a Postprint of the Accepted Manuscript (PDF) is available via the personal website of the author(s) at the following link:

http://webstaff.itn.liu.se/~konsc/Haglund_Jeppsson_Schonborn_2015_Postprint

ThermalVi

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Section: Revisiting the Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Educational Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking on the Heat—a Narrative Account of How Infrared Cameras Invite Instant Inquiry

2015

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As per the Springer Copyright agreement, a Postprint of the Accepted Manuscript (PDF) is available via the personal website of the author(s) at the following link:

http://webstaff.itn.liu.se/~konsc/Haglund_Jeppsson_Schonborn_2015_Postprint

ThermalVi

show abstract

“…The function that a given representation fills in physics in terms of potentially providing access to disciplinary knowledge has been characterized as the disciplinary affordance of that representation [11,12]. Compare, for example, solving a mechanics problem using a free-body diagram with using an equation such as Newton's second law.…”

Section: A the Disciplinary Affordance Of A Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These issues are educationally important because what creates a powerful communicative system for physics at the same time manifests in the difficulties students experience in terms of becoming "fluent" [2] (p. 28) in the disciplinary-specific representations [2,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Theoretical details from the literature, together with the concept of disciplinary affordance [11,12], are used to underpin a case that physics representations need to be "unpacked" for students. A vignette from the student laboratory is used to illustrate the depth of the problem and a discussion of the rationalization of representations is used to offer a guiding conceptual framework for thinking about these challenges in physics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance

Fredlund

Linder

Airey

et al. 2014

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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This theoretical article problematizes the access to disciplinary knowledge that different physics representations have the possibility to provide; that is, their disciplinary affordances. It is argued that historically such access has become increasingly constrained for students as physics representations have been rationalized over time. Thus, the case is made that such rationalized representations, while powerful for communication from a disciplinary point of view, manifest as learning challenges for students. The proposal is illustrated using a vignette from a student discussion in the physics laboratory about circuit connections for an experimental investigation of the charging and discharging of a capacitor. It is concluded that in order for students to come to appreciate the disciplinary affordances of representations, more attention needs to be paid to their "unpacking." Building on this conclusion, two questions are proposed that teachers can ask themselves in order to begin to unpack the representations that they use in their teaching. The paper ends by proposing directions for future research in this area.

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“…Based on studies using this approach, what it can be seen is that participants are asked to engage in a task that requires them to use what they know to, for example, explain decisions they make, such as the study with primary school students being asked about increasing, decreasing or keeping the price of a hot dog in their school (see Marton and Pang 43 ) to study their understanding of the relationship between price, supply and demand. Likewise, Fredlund, Airey, & Linder 44 , when studying the role of physics representations, asked their students to "provide an appropriate and adequate explanation for the refraction of light to a hypothetical peer student," and they were asked to do it in the same physics laboratory in which they could count with water, a glass tank, laser pointers, etc, and a blackboard and a chalk. As we see in these two examples, researchers always created an instance of the object of learning and all the participants are asked about it.…”

Section: Development Of Outcome Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Using Phenomenography: Reflections on Key Considerations for Making Methodological Decisions

Dringenberg¹,

Mendoza-Garcia²,

Tafur-Arciniegas³

et al.

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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Emily Dringenberg is a PhD Candidate in Engineering Education at Purdue University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Kansas State '08) and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (Purdue '14). Her current dissertation research focuses on using qualitative methods to explore the experiences of students engaging with engineering design problems. Additionally, her research interests include transfer of learning, personal epistemology, and design learning.John Alexander Mendoza-Garcia, Purdue University, West Lafayette / Pontificia Universidad Javeriana -Bogota, ColombiaJohn Mendoza-Garcia is a Colombian Systems Engineer (Bachelor's and Master's degree) that currently is a Ph.D candidate in Engineering Education at Purdue University. His advisors are Dr. Monica E. Cardella and Dr. William C. Oakes. He is interested in understanding the development of systems thinking to support its assessment and teaching. Currently, he works for the first year engineering program at Purdue where he has taught the engineering introductory courses in design and algorithmic thinking, and has also developed content for these courses. He has an appointment with the department of systems engineering at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia since 2005 and is currently on a leave of absence. There he taught systems thinking and coordinated the professional internships, the social internships and the graduation project. He worked as Software Engineer in different companies for seven years before transitioning to academia. Reflections on each of these considerations are summarized and provided in full. Our analysis of the reflections revealed that the application of the phenomenographic methodology must respond to nuances in individual contexts. Thus, the primary contribution of this paper is the identification of five key considerations that can help guide a phenomenographic research approach, and transparency of how five emerging phenomenographic researchers have dealt with these considerations.

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Exploring the role of physics representations: an illustrative example from students sharing knowledge about refraction

Abstract: Exploring the role of physics representations: an illustrative example from students sharing knowledge about refraction.European journal of physics, 33(3): 657-666 http://dx

Cited by 88 publications

References 26 publications

Taking on the Heat—a Narrative Account of How Infrared Cameras Invite Instant Inquiry

Taking on the Heat—a Narrative Account of How Infrared Cameras Invite Instant Inquiry

Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance

Using Phenomenography: Reflections on Key Considerations for Making Methodological Decisions

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