PERC 2020 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Modeling the construction and interpretation of equations: Incorporating symbolic forms into a conceptual blend |
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| Abstract: | Much of physics involves the construction and interpretation of equations. Sherin designed the symbolic forms analysis to describe students' construction of equations in physics. A symbolic form includes two components: the symbol template to represent the externalized structures of the equation and the conceptual schema to represent the acontextual mathematical justification of the symbol template. We incorporate symbolic forms into a conceptual blending framework to describe the ways in which construct and understand equations. Our model treats the conceptual schema as the underlying generic space of conceptual blending that frames the combination of the contextual information and the symbolic structure. We present this model in the context of student construction of non-Cartesian differential length vectors. We illustrate the affordances of the model by drawing further connections between the frameworks and expanding this approach to other contexts within our research. |
| Abstract Type: | Symposium Talk |
| Parallel Session: | Using the theory of conceptual blending at the mathematics-physics interface |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Benjamin P. Schermerhorn California State University Fullerton |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
John R. Thompson, University of Maine |
