Physics Education Research Conference
Cognitive Science and Physics Education Research

Targeted Poster Sessions

Various Times & Rooms Listed Below
Targeted Poster Presenters:  Please follow the instructions provided here.

Targeted Poster Session: TP-A

Experimental Paradigms from Cognitive Science to Learn About Learning

Organizer:  Jose Mestre: University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

When/Where:  Thursday, August 2 from 8:15 - 9:45 a.m. in Sheraton Hotel, Augusta B

                        Thursday, August 2 from 1:45 - 3:15 p.m. in Sheraton Hotel, Augusta B

Theme:  This session features 4 presentations tied by the underlying theme, 'experimental paradigms to learn about learning.' The studies use experimental methods that are common in cognitive science but which have not become mainstream in physics education research (PER), largely because PER is a relatively young field of research. Presenters (and co-authors) will include physics education researchers, educational psychologists, and cognitive scientists. Brookes (collaborating with Mestre and Stine-Morrow) will present a reading study of physics text in which target sentences are timed, and reading times are interpreted in view of a mental model of text comprehension. This paradigm is ideal for studying both text processing and learning in circumstances when the text presented conflicts (or not) with students' concepts (e.g., Newton's Third Law). Heckler explores how learning and transfer depend on context. By cleverly manipulating the context of the learning task from a within-subjects design he is able to draw conclusions about how learning varies when viewed along a concrete/abstract dimension. Schwartz (collaborating with Sears) will describe how a 'preparation for future learning' approach to measuring learning and transfer reveals learning that would otherwise be missed in a traditional treatment-followed-by-assessment design. What is perhaps most interesting about this paradigm is that floundering at a complex task (and thus displaying little learning following it by traditional measures) prepares students to learn from a lecture much more than simply presenting the lecture without the initial task. Sherin will shed new light on a paradigm that has been used extensively in PER, namely the clinical interview. He will argue that interpreting what students say in an interview is not as clear cut as many believe, but requires a careful analysis not only of what students report about their understanding but also of the dynamics of the interview itself.

Goals:  Attendees will be able to explore in-depth with leading researchers experimental approaches from cognitive science for learning about learning that could be applied in novel ways in physics education research. Although researchers in our PER community commonly read physics education, and science education journals, only a handful keep up with the psychology or cognitive science journals, resulting in little exposure to experimental approaches that could be fruitful for our community to explore. This session will cover ground that will be new to most in our community, and which should be of interest to those planning future studies of physics learning.

Targeted Poster Session: TP-B

A Conversation About Models, Modeling, Representations and Cognitive Science

Organizers:  Brant Hinrichs: Drury University/Eric Brewe, Florida International University

When/Where:  Thursday, August 2 from 1:45 - 3:15 a.m. in Sheraton Hotel, Tangle Wood

                        Thursday, August 2 from 3:45 - 5:15 p.m. in Sheraton Hotel, Tangle Wood

Theme:  This session features four presentations that explore the relationship between models, modeling, and cognitive science. We want to open up an explicit conversation on models and modeling in order to enhance community discourse on the topic and develop a deeper understanding of what we all mean by those words. Since the theme of this PERC will be cognitive science, we are especially interested in the direct links between models, modeling and the cognitive science aspects of teaching physics. In our invitation to each presenter, we asked them to discuss (i) what you mean by models and modeling, (ii) the role of representations in models and modeling, and (iii) the connections you see between models and modeling and ideas in cognitive science relevant to the teaching of physics. This session will follow a familiar format. There would be four posters by different and diverse people addressing this topic. The session would have two parts. During the first 80 minutes, participants would have 20 minutes to explore each poster on their own. During the last 40 minutes, participants would engage in a large group discussion of the issues raised by the posters.

Goals: 

• To learn what different members of the PER community mean by the terms model, modeling, and representation.

• To see if there is any consensus on what those terms mean and how they are implemented in the classroom.

• To discuss some of the concepts from cognitive science that underlie the use and understanding of models, modeling and representation in teaching physics.

• To see if there is any consensus on the intersections between cognitive science and models in teaching physics.