PERC 2016 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Conceptual blending as a tool for analyzing group discourse |
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| Abstract: | While Fauconnier and Turner's theory of conceptual blending is a theory of the mind that focuses on the individual, we demonstrate that it can also be used as a tool for analysis of group discourse. Building on sociocultural theories that consider cognition a social process, we propose blending theory as a descriptive and analytic tool for use in examining the processes of collective reasoning. We present data from focus groups at CU Boulder in which Modern Physics students engage in reasoning about quantum phenomena and negotiate ontological conceptions of quantum entities such as electrons and photons (i.e. negotiating what kind of a thing an electron or photon is). We present a conceptual blending analysis of group discourse within this context, and show how conceptual blending theory can be used to describe both collectively constructed blends and more traditional individual blends. |
| Abstract Type: | Symposium Talk |
| Parallel Session: | Conceptual Blending as a Theoretical Framework in Physics Education Research |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Jessica Hoy University of Colorado Boulder |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Noah D. Finkelstein, University of Colorado Boulder Ayush Gupta, University of Maryland |
