“Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy

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written by Rachel E. Scherr, Hunter G. Close, Sarah B. McKagan, and Eleanor W. Close

In what we call "embodied learning activities," instructors deliberately arrange for human bodies, or parts of the body, to stand in for entities in the description or explanation of a phenomenon. Embodied learning activities (ELAs) are intended to promote and externalize conceptual understanding in physics, for the benefit of the learner, the instructor, and the researcher. We describe an example of an embodied learning activity called "Energy Theater," in which each participant identifies as a unit of energy that has one and only one form. Objects in the scenario correspond to regions on the floor, and as energy moves and changes form in the scenario, participants move to different locations on the floor. This representation models energy as a substance-like quantity, a model that promotes concepts of conservation, storage, transfer, and flow. The activity becomes a richly featured disciplined symbolic workspace, supporting future studies for both description and analysis.

Physics Education Research Conference 2010
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, Oregon: July 21-22, 2010
Volume 1289, Pages 293-296

download 447kb .pdf
Published: August 24, 2010

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - Work and Energy Education - Applied Research - Instructional Material Design = Activity Education - Basic Research - Cognition	- Lower Undergraduate - Upper Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Report = Research study

PER-Central Type	Intended Users	Ratings
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Formats:: application/pdf
non-digital
Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3515226
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2010 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2010 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3515226
NSF Number:: 0822342
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.40.Ha
Keywords:: embodied cognition, metaphor, representations, PERC 2010, embodied learning activity, energy, energy theater
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created November 8, 2010 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: May 1, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: August 24, 2010

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=10483">Scherr, R, H. Close, S. McKagan, and E. Close. "“Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010.</a>

AIP Format

R. Scherr, H. Close, S. McKagan, and E. Close, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938).

AJP/PRST-PER

R. Scherr, H. Close, S. McKagan, and E. Close, “Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938>.

APA Format

Scherr, R., Close, H., McKagan, S., & Close, E. (2010, July 21-22). “Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon. Retrieved January 18, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938

Chicago Format

Scherr, R, H. Close, S. McKagan, and E. Close. "“Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938 (accessed 18 January 2025).

MLA Format

Scherr, Rachel, Hunter Close, Sarah B. McKagan, and Eleanor Close. "“Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy." Physics Education Research Conference 2010. Portland, Oregon: 2010. 293-296 Vol. 1289 of PER Conference. 18 Jan. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Rachel Scherr and Hunter Close and Sarah B. McKagan and Eleanor Close", Title = {“Energy Theater”: Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2010}, Pages = {293-296}, Address = {Portland, Oregon}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1289}, Month = {July 21-22}, Year = {2010} }

Refer Export Format

%A Rachel Scherr %A Hunter Close %A Sarah B. McKagan %A Eleanor Close %T "Energy Theater": Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy %S PER Conference %V 1289 %D July 21-22 2010 %P 293-296 %C Portland, Oregon %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %O July 21-22 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Scherr, Rachel %A Close, Hunter %A McKagan, Sarah B. %A Close, Eleanor %D July 21-22 2010 %T "Energy Theater": Using The Body Symbolically To Understand Energy %B Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %C Portland, Oregon %V 1289 %P 293-296 %S PER Conference %8 July 21-22 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10483&DocID=1938

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