PERC 2024 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | A causal diagram representation for communicating resource coordination challenges and goals in qualitative covariation |
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| Abstract Type: | Symposium Talk |
| Abstract: | Though students possess productive resources for qualitative covariational inference in physics (i.e. "If X increased, what can you infer about Y?"), they may not apply those resources in canonically correct ways. How can these productive resources be leveraged for building normative physical reasoning? This constructivist process has been described using theoretical metaphors, such as "resource re-coordination" or "knowledge refinement." While useful for describing an orientation towards learning, the weakness of these metaphors is that they do not communicate any details about the resource re-coordination process. In this talk, I will illustrate how a causal diagram representation can communicate a widespread core issue in qualitative covariational inference: coordination of multiple, simultaneous covariational relationships. I will show how this causal diagram representation can connect documented reasoning errors in PER literature and can describe one dimension of resource re-coordination needed to align student reasoning with canonical physics. I will end by discussing strengths and weaknesses of this approach for deepening our understanding of qualitative covariational reasoning in physics and communicating the process of resource coordination. |
| Parallel Session: | Learners' engagement in sensemaking |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Eric Kuo Departments of Physics and Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
