Thesis Detail Page
written by
Brian W. Frank
Physics education research has long emphasized the need for physics instruction to address students' existing intuitions about the physical world as an integral part of learning physics. Researchers, however, have not reached a consensus-view concerning the nature of this intuitive knowledge or the specific role that it does (or might) play in physics learning. This dissertation contributes to ongoing inquiry into the nature of students' intuitive thought and its role in learning physics through the pursuit of dynamic systems characterizations of student reasoning, with a particular focus on how students settle into and shift among multiple patterns of reasoning about motion.
In one thread of this research, simple experimental designs are used to demonstrate how individual students can be predictably biased toward and away from different ways of thinking about the same physical situation when specific parameters of questions posed to students are varied. I qualitatively model students' thinking in terms of the activations and interactions among fine-grained intuitive knowledge and static features of the context. In a second thread of this research, case studies of more dynamic shifts in students' conceptual reasoning are developed from videos of student discussions during collaborative classroom activities. These show multiple local stabilities of students' thinking as well, with evidence of group-level dynamics shifting on the time scale of minutes. This work contributes to existing research paradigms that aim to characterize student thinking in physics education in two important ways: (1) through the use of methods that allow for forms of empirical accountability that connect descriptive models of student thinking to experimental data, and (2) through the theoretical development of explanatory mechanisms that account for patterns in students' reasoning at multiple levels of analysis.
University:
University of Maryland
Academic Department: Physics Education Research Group Pages 210
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Record Link
<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=10060">Frank, Brian. "The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics." Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2009.</a>
AIP Format
B. Frank, , Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2009, WWW Document, (http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/).
AJP/PRST-PER
B. Frank, The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics, Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2009, <http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/>.
APA Format
Frank, B. (2009, August 7). The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics (Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2009). Retrieved December 3, 2024, from http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/
Chicago Format
Frank, Brian. "The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics." Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2009. http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/ (accessed 3 December 2024).
MLA Format
Frank, Brian. "The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics." Ph.D.. 7 Aug. 2009. University of Maryland, 2009. 3 Dec. 2024 <http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/>.
BibTeX Export Format
@phdthesis{
Author = "Brian Frank",
Title = {The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics},
School = {University of Maryland},
Type = {Ph.D.},
Month = {August},
Year = {2009}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Brian Frank %T The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics %R Ph.D. %D August 7, 2009 %P 210 %I University of Maryland %U http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/ %O Physics Education Research Group %O application/pdf %O Ph.D.
EndNote Export Format
%0 Thesis %A Frank, Brian %D August 7, 2009 %T The Dynamics of Variability in Introductory Physics Students' Thinking: Examples from Kinematics %B Physics Education Research Group %I University of Maryland %P 210 %8 August 7, 2009 %9 Ph.D. %U http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/dissertations/Frank/ Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual. The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles. The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References. The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation. The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ. |
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