PERC 2008 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | How Abstract is Abstract? Signs, Salience, and Meaning in Physics |
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| Abstract: | External representations, including pictures, graphs, text, gestures, and utterances, are key components of all curricular materials in physics. Such representations play a key role in cognitive function, particularly insofar as individuals interpret the meanings of and apply meanings to these representations. We have proposed a model of how individuals can make meaning of and with external representations through layered analogies and applied this model to learning abstract ideas in physics, i.e. EM waves. [1] [2] We extend this model in two ways. (1) We distinguish individuals' interpretations of representations, which can be highly variable and fleeting, from the physics communities' agreed upon interpretations, which are more stable and coherent. (2) Two characteristics of representation use emerge: abstraction based on the community consensus of concepts and salience based on readily accessible pieces of knowledge for an individual. 1. N.S. Podolefsky & N.D. Finkelstein, Phys. Rev. ST - Phys. Educ. Res. 3, 010109 (2007) 2. N.S. Podolefsky & N.D. Finkelstein, Phys. Rev. ST - Phys. Educ. Res. 3, 020104 (2007) |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster |
| Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
| Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Noah S. Podolefsky University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Physics 390 UCB Boulder, CO 80309 Phone: 303-641-8217 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Noah D. Finkelstein |
