Characterizing the novice-expert shift in understanding energy : a coordination class approach

النوع : Mémoire

Energy is a central concept in physics and other sciences. It helps integrate a significant number of constructs, and is especially useful in problem solving. Yet, research in education has shown that students tend to find significant difficulty in learning it, and in applying it.The conceptual change literature has suggested that students come to science instruction already possessing alternative frameworks. diSessa (1993) has convincingly argued that intuitive physics is fragmentary in nature, consisting of many, inconsistently applied intuitions grounded in everyday experience. But, experts show an articulate ability to coordinate these intuitive experiences within a scientific causal framework. diSessa and Sherin (1998) refer to these expert ways of knowing as 'coordination classes', a specific type of concept used when dealing with complex scientific thinking. The central aim of this thesis was to explore the different levels of understanding the concept of energy within the coordination class framework. The study relied on protocol data collected by means of a series of extended problem solving interviews with six participants, two middle school students, two secondary students, and two university physics faculty. The interviews were video and audio taped and verbatim transcripts of the interview sessions are prepared.Participants? understanding of energy was assessed in terms of span and alignment, readout strategies and causal net elements, incorporation and displacement. The analysis aimed at determining how these resources were used at the various levels of expertise. The results were then examined in light of the supposed novice-intermediate-expert spectrum.The results seem to suggest that novices, intermediates, and experts think about energy in terms of a variety of cognitive resources. Some resources like proper mental models and effective p-prims are specific to experts, but the main difference in conceptual thinking across the spectrum hinges on how the resources are coordinated. Further research is needed on how each type of cognitive resource typically influences the coordination process. The study also recommends that coordination class analysis be applied to instruction and curriculum design, since it builds on preexisting resources that can be effectively used in conceptual development.