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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Identifying Events That Impact Self-Efficacy In Physics Learning, Vashti Sawtell, Eric Brewe, Renee Michelle Goertzen, Laird Kramer
Identifying Events That Impact Self-Efficacy In Physics Learning, Vashti Sawtell, Eric Brewe, Renee Michelle Goertzen, Laird Kramer
Department of Physics
We present a method of analyzing the development of self-efficacy in real time using a framework of self-efficacy opportunities (SEOs). Considerable research has shown a connection between self-efficacy, or the confidence in one’s own ability to perform a task, and success in science fields. Traditional methods of investigating the development of self-efficacy have required participants to recollect past events. This reliance on participant memory makes it difficult to understand what impact particular events may have on developing self-efficacy in the moment. We use video recordings of three undergraduate Modeling Instruction students solving a physics problem to characterize SEOs in a …
Energy As A Substancelike Quantity That Flows: Theoretical Considerations And Pedagogical Consequences, Eric Brewe
Energy As A Substancelike Quantity That Flows: Theoretical Considerations And Pedagogical Consequences, Eric Brewe
Department of Physics
Utilizing an energy-as-substance conceptual metaphor as a central feature of the introductory physics curriculum affords students a wealth of conceptual resources for reasoning about energy conservation, storage, and transfer. This paper first establishes the utility and function of a conceptual metaphor in developing student understanding of energy concepts. Then a curricular framework with a prominent energy-as-substance conceptual metaphor is described. The curricular framework involves both a reorganization of the content of introductory physics as well as a renewed focus. Reorganizing includes treating energy early and spiraling back to energy treatments. The refocusing includes emphasizing energy’s role in modeling phenomena and …
Specificity, Transfer, And The Development Of Expertise, David T. Brookes, Brian H. Ross, Jose P. Mestre
Specificity, Transfer, And The Development Of Expertise, David T. Brookes, Brian H. Ross, Jose P. Mestre
Department of Physics
In this paper we present the results of two experiments designed to understand how physics students’ learning of the concept of refraction is influenced by the cognitive phenomenon of ‘‘specificity.’’ In both experiments participants learned why light bends as it travels from one optical medium to another with an analogy made to a car driving from paved road into mud and vice versa. They then learned how to qualitatively draw the direction of refracted light rays with an example of a glass prism. One group learned with a rectangular prism example while a second group learned with a triangular prism …