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edited by Lin Ding, Adrienne L. Traxler, and Ying Cao
The theme of the 2017 Physics Education Research (PER) Conference was "Mathematization and Physics Education."

The focus on mathematics in physics is increasing along with connections between the PER and Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) communities. Thus we highlighted mathematization research at the 2017 PERC. Mathematization refers to the spontaneous tendency to use mathematical concepts to quantify and make sense of the physical world. It is not about how well people can perform mathematical procedures. Rather, mathematization describes how people conceptualize the meaning of mathematics in the context of physics.

Expert-like mathematization in physics involves both a procedural and conceptual mastery of the prerequisite mathematics involved. Gray and Tall highlighted this distinction and refer to the target learning goal as proceptual understanding, in which procedural mastery and conceptual understanding coexist. When reasoning mathematically with physics quantities, many students become entrenched in a procedural approach. Some reach a high level of procedural efficiency without much conceptual mathematical understanding, while other students develop greater mathematical flexibility. An achievement gap emerges between those performing procedurally and those developing greater flexibility. This gap in early math learning is referred to as the proceptual divide.

The proceptual divide is evident in physics courses, where success depends on having a proceptual understanding of both the prerequisite math and the learned physics. For example, the obstacles calculus level students encounter using basic proportional reasoning when it involves physics quantities and real numbers, rather than everyday quantities and whole numbers. Similarly, most introductory physics students approach symbol-rich physics problems that involve calculus or trigonometry as a procedure, framing their task as one of answermaking instead of sensemaking.
2017 Physics Education Research Conference
Part of the PER Conference Proceedings series
Cincinnati, OH: July 26-27, 2017
1 primary supplement is available
3 supplemental documents are available
Subjects Levels Resource Types
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Graduate/Professional
- Professional Development
- Reference Material
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Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:
AAPT PER Topical Group
ISBN Number:
978-1-931024-32-7
ISSN Number:
2377-2379
Keyword:
PERC 2017
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created February 15, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
March 30, 2018 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
March 1, 2018
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Record Link
AIP Format
, presented at the 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 2017, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017).
AJP/PRST-PER
2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, presented at the 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, Cincinnati, OH, 2017, <https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017>.
APA Format
Ding, L., Traxler, A., & Cao, Y. (Eds.). (2017, July 26-27). 2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings. Paper presented at 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, Cincinnati, OH. Retrieved November 6, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017
Chicago Format
Ding, L, A. Traxler, and Y. Cao, eds. "2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings." Paper presented at the 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 26-27, 2017. https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017 (accessed 6 November 2024).
MLA Format
Ding, Lin, Adrienne Traxler, and Ying Cao, eds. "2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings." 2017 Physics Education Research Conference. Cincinnati, OH: 2017. of PER Conference Proceedings. 6 Nov. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Editor = "Lin Ding and Adrienne Traxler and Ying Cao", Title = {2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings}, BookTitle = {2017 Physics Education Research Conference}, Address = {Cincinnati, OH}, Series = {PER Conference Proceedings}, Month = {July 26-27}, Year = {2017} }
Refer Export Format

%A Lin Ding %A Adrienne Traxler %A Ying Cao, (eds) %T 2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings %S PER Conference Proceedings %D July 26-27 2017 %C Cincinnati, OH %U https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017 %O 2017 Physics Education Research Conference %O July 26-27 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %D July 26-27 2017 %T 2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings %E Ding, Lin %E Traxler, Adrienne %E Cao, Ying %B 2017 Physics Education Research Conference %C Cincinnati, OH %S PER Conference Proceedings %8 July 26-27 %@ 2377-2379,978-1-931024-32-7 %U https://www.compadre.org/per/perc/conference.cfm?Y=2017


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