PERC 2024 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | "Instead of gravity pointing down, it’s now pointing up": Enhancing physics students’ connection between mathematics and mechanism |
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| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Abstract: | Digital simulations are especially helpful in physics education, but most simulations provide only a visualization of a phenomenon while obscuring the mathematical relationships that model its behavior. Our team is developing a suite of online simulations called AnonSim, which combine visual representations with an ability to input and alter the accompanying physics equations. Here, we share excerpts from a group of clinical interviews, in which intermediate physics students explored the first iterations of a AnonSim simulation of a characteristic problem in Classical Mechanics: the bead-on-a-hoop. The students were given predict-observe-explain prompts to investigate the way they connected the mathematical representation to the physical phenomenon. We highlight four episodes in which students had to revise their predictions, and how these instances indicate that engaging with the AnonSim simulation encouraged the students to build more robust connections between their physical and mathematical reasoning. |
| Session Time: | Poster Session 1 |
| Poster Number: | A49 |
| Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
| Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Jared Arnell Utah State University Logan, UT 84321 Phone: 8015923230 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Hillary Swanson, Utah State University Boyd Edwards, Utah State University Kaden Hart, Utah State University Sadra Jafari, Utah State University John Edwards, Utah State University |
Contributed Poster | |
| Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |
