Using conceptual metaphor and functional grammar to explore how language used in physics affects student learning

Brookes, David T.; Etkina, Eugenia

doi:10.1103/physrevstper.3.010105

Cited by 96 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…I would say, yes, and argue that, without the elaborated matter ontological class, learning physics of any sort would be impossible.'' [31] Both experts and novices use multiple and overlapping metaphors for physics quantities that complement one another in complex representations of physical phenomena [19,31,37]. Our observations regarding the substance, stimulus, and vertical location metaphors for energy add to the evidence supporting this ''dynamic ontologies'' perspective in that they document variability in novices' and experts' ontologies for energy.…”

Section: A Advantages Of a Substance Ontology For Energymentioning

confidence: 56%

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Scherr

McKagan

et al. 2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

116

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The nature of energy is not typically an explicit topic of physics instruction. Nonetheless, verbal and graphical representations of energy articulate models in which energy is conceptualized as a quasimaterial substance, a stimulus, or a vertical location. We argue that a substance ontology for energy is particularly productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. We analyze classic representations of energy-bar charts, pie charts, and others-to determine the energy ontologies that are implicit in those representations, and thus their affordances for energy learning. We find that while existing representations partially support a substance ontology for energy and thus the learning goal of energy conservation, they have limited utility for tracking the flow of energy among objects.

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Section: A Advantages Of a Substance Ontology For Energymentioning

confidence: 56%

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Scherr

McKagan

et al. 2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This interpretation is supported by the finding that it is common for students to ascribe an entropy increase to a system undergoing adiabatic, reversible expansion, due to the volume increase, and ignore the reduction of the internal energy of the system (Brosseau & Viard, 1992;Haglund & Jeppsson, 2014). The difficulty of carrying out conventional, scientifically sanctioned metaphorical mappings of intuitive, image-schematic structures to abstract scientific concepts has already been noted in the literature (Brookes & Etkina, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 52%

Varying Use of Conceptual Metaphors across Levels of Expertise in Thermodynamics

Jeppsson

Haglund

Amin

2015

International Journal of Science Education

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Many studies have previously focused on how people with different levels of expertise solve physics problems. In early work, focus was on characterising differences between experts and novices and a key finding was the central role that propositionally expressed principles and laws play in expert, but not novice, problem solving. A more recent line of research has focused on characterizing continuity between experts and novices at the level of nonpropositional knowledge structures and processes such as image-schemas, imagistic simulation and analogical reasoning. This study contributes to an emerging literature addressing the coordination of both propositional and non-propositional knowledge structures and processes in the development of expertise. Specifically, in this paper we compare problem solving across two levels of expertise -undergraduate students of chemistry and PhD students in physical chemistry -identifying differences in how conceptual metaphors are used (or not) to coordinate propositional and non-propositional knowledge structures in the context of solving problems on entropy. It is hypothesized that the acquisition of expertise involves learning to coordinate the use of conceptual metaphors to interpret propositional (linguistic and mathematical) knowledge and apply it to specific problem situations.Moreover, we suggest that with increasing expertise, the use of conceptual metaphors involves a greater degree of subjective engagement with physical entities and processes.Implications for research on learning and instructional practice are discussed.3

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“…This theoretical article is about the teaching and learning challenges that arise from students experiencing this partiality of representations, where important physics aspects are not initially discernible. 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.…”

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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Using conceptual metaphor and functional grammar to explore how language used in physics affects student learning

Cited by 96 publications

References 38 publications

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Varying Use of Conceptual Metaphors across Levels of Expertise in Thermodynamics

Unpacking physics representations: Towards an appreciation of disciplinary affordance

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