Students’ flexible use of ontologies and the value of tentative reasoning: Examples of conceptual understanding in three canonical topics of quantum mechanics

Hoehn, Jessica R.; Finkelstein, Noah D.

doi:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.14.010122

Cited by 25 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Students' ontologies influence the way they learn physics concepts [1,2], and as such, studies of ontologies used by both students and professional physicists, have been common in physics education research (see, e.g., Refs. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]). Harrer argues that we need metaphors to understand abstract concepts and identifies multiple ontological metaphors for energy used by professional physicists in academic writing [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the dynamics of ontological reasoning across contexts in quantum physics

Hoehn

Gifford

Finkelstein

2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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The ontologies students use-their conceptions about the nature of entities-impact the way they learn physics and reason through physics problems. We investigate students' capacities for flexible use of ontologies in a modern physics context, focusing on students' reasoning around two quantum entities (photons and electrons) for three canonical topics in introductory quantum physics (double slit experiment, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and quantum tunneling). We present a description of a full framework to describe and distinguish between different kinds of dynamic ontologies. The framework identifies possible ontological structures in individual reasoning episodes, three of which we identify in our data set: unitary (applying a single stable ontology), parallel (switching back and forth between multiple ontologies), and blended (constructing a novel ontology by blending two or more input ontologies). These different ontological structures are applied to the specific ontologies used (e.g., wave or particle) for the specific entity (e.g., photon or electron). We demonstrate the utility of the framework by coding individual responses from a representative sample of an introductory modern physics course to an array of written and multiple-choice questions on homework, exams, and pre-and postsurveys. We present and explore the patterns of use of ontologies across the three topical contexts and these various modalities. We demonstrate that students use a variety of ontologies and ontological structures across entities and topic areas, even when not explicitly prompted to do so. In addition to providing evidence of students' capacities for flexible use of ontologies, we find that the wording and framing of the question prompts impact students' use of ontologies. Expanding on the aggregate data, we engage in analysis of a few notable examples to demonstrate how the wording, framing, and content of prompts can intersect to collectively impact students' use of ontologies and ontological structures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the dynamics of ontological reasoning across contexts in quantum physics

Hoehn

Gifford

Finkelstein

2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

Self Cite

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“…Enyedy et al used liminal blends to account for the complex emerging dynamics in a setting where the simulation, physical, and students' social spaces were tightly intertwined. Similarly, Hoehn and Finkelstein (2018) employ conceptual blending in conjunction with distributed cognition (Hutchins 1995a) and sociocultural perspectives on learning (e.g., Lave and Wenger 1991) in their analysis of university physics students' small group dialog on modern physics, and students have been found to make use of collectively constructed blends as they reasoned about quantum phenomena and negotiated their understanding of what different quantum entities, such as electrons and photons, actually are (Fredriksson and Pelger 2018).…”

Section: Conceptual Blending In Educational Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 A student performs a gesture, representing a precessing perihelion of a planet's orbit Furthermore, group 2 (in contrast to group 1) often discussed ideas using well-articulated formal physics concepts, as they investigated the patterns of orbital motion. During this process, the students appeared to collaboratively co-construct shared blended spaces (Hoehn and Finkelstein 2018).…”

Section: Variation In Students' Approaches To Exploration: Diverse Rementioning

confidence: 99%

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Conceptual Blending as an Interpretive Lens for Student Engagement with Technology: Exploring Celestial Motion on an Interactive Whiteboard

Gregorcic

Haglund

2018

Res Sci Educ

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We present and analyze video data of upper secondary school students' engagement with a computer-supported collaborative learning environment that enables them to explore astronomical phenomena (Keplerian motion). The students' activities have an immersive and exploratory character, as students engage in open-ended inquiry and interact physically with the virtual environment displayed on an interactive whiteboard. The interplay of students' playful exploration through physical engagement with the simulation environment, their attention to physics concepts and laws, and knowledge about the real planets orbiting the Sun presents an analytical challenge for the researcher and instructor encountering such complex learning environments. We argue that the framework of conceptual blending is particularly apt for dealing with the learning environment at hand, because it allows us to take into account the many diverse mental inputs that seem to shape the student activities described in the paper. We show how conceptual blending can be brought together with theoretical ideas concerned with embodied cognition and epistemology of physics, in order to provide researchers and instructors with a powerful lens for looking critically at immersive technology-supported learning environments.

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“…For example, Alonso [10] stated, "My motto is: Learn first what quantum mechanics is good for, and afterwards analyze its epistemological implications." However, recent research shows that epistemological aspects can motivate and help students to understand QP conceptually [11,12]. Moreover, there are instructors who, indeed, use different interpretations of QP to teach students aspects of the nature of science (NOS) [4,13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of secondary school quantum physics curricula of 15 different countries: Different perspectives on a challenging topic

Stadermann

Berg

Goedhart

2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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Secondary school level quantum physics (QP) courses have recently been implemented in the national curricula of many countries. QP gives opportunities to acquaint students with more recent physics and its applications and to discuss aspects of the nature of science. Research has shown that QP is a challenging area for students. Because the inclusion of QP in national curricula is rather new in most countries, it is interesting to compare QP curricula from these countries to make the choices by curriculum designers visible. In this study, we provide a detailed overview of QP courses from fifteen countries. We collected and analyzed official curriculum documents to identify key items present in most curricula. Our inventory identifies a shared current core curriculum of QP which contains the following seven main categories: discrete atomic energy levels, interactions between light and matter, wave-particle duality, de Broglie wavelength, technical applications, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and the probabilistic nature of QP. We also found differences in the focus of the listed topics of certain countries, which indicate different views on teaching QP and might inspire curriculum designers struggling with QP. For instance, challenging items like QP interpretations or epistemological aspects of QP are taught only in a few countries. Although research suggests that epistemological aspects help students to comprehend novel QP concepts, many countries do not explicitly include these in the curriculum. We provide reasons and suggestions for this.

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Students’ flexible use of ontologies and the value of tentative reasoning: Examples of conceptual understanding in three canonical topics of quantum mechanics

Cited by 25 publications

References 60 publications

Investigating the dynamics of ontological reasoning across contexts in quantum physics

Investigating the dynamics of ontological reasoning across contexts in quantum physics

Conceptual Blending as an Interpretive Lens for Student Engagement with Technology: Exploring Celestial Motion on an Interactive Whiteboard

Analysis of secondary school quantum physics curricula of 15 different countries: Different perspectives on a challenging topic

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