PERC 2013 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Physics knowledge and its effects: a study of student responses in thermodynamics using Legitimation Code Theory |
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| Abstract: | While physics education research is appropriately attending to issues surrounding the fundamental role that 'affect' plays in cognition, such research should not be dislocated from the subject matter it refers to. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) is a sociological toolkit for the study of knowledge as well as the knower, the latter being the most commonly studied in educational research. In an effort to turn the focus to knowledge, the LCT concept of 'semantics' is used to examine the context dependency of thermodynamics knowledge as depicted in N=133 first year physics student responses. The concept of Semantics is one way to describe the organizing principles of knowledge and to do so helps to reveal the different properties, powers and effects that different types of knowledge afford. The issue of affect will be discussed in this context, as will the implications for the teaching and learning of thermodynamics, and PER in general. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Helen Georgiou The University of Sydney |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Manjula Sharma, The University of Sydney |
