PERC 2012 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | The role of affect in stabilizing inquiry |
|---|---|
| Abstract: | An objective for science education is to develop students' sense of inquiry as "a refinement of everyday thinking" (Einstein, 1936), refinement toward coherent, mechanistic understanding. Previous work has applied the theoretical lens of "epistemological framing," (Redish, 2004; Hammer, et al., 2005), with a focus on how a framing remains stable. Here, we explore the role of affect in fifth graders' inquiry: Having learned that when objects are heated their molecules spread apart, students struggle to explain why water expands when it freezes. We track the role of affect through a series of mounting tensions and the release of those tensions as students come up with alternate explanations. We argue that affect was central to the stability of students' framing their activity as theoretical inquiry to address an inconsistency. More broadly, we suggest there is evidence of affect playing a role in inquiry across a range of published case studies. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Lama Jaber Tufts University |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Luke Conlin, Tufts University David Hammer, Tufts University |
