INVESTIGADORES
BUTELER Laura Maria
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
INTUITIVE PHYSICS KNOWLEDGE AND MATHEMATICAL FORMALISM
Autor/es:
BUTELER, LAURA; COLEONI, ENRIQUE
Lugar:
Jyvaskyla
Reunión:
Congreso; GIREP-EPEC 2011 International Conference; 2011
Institución organizadora:
GIREP-EPEC Local Organising Committee
Resumen:
The mathematical formalization of physical situations is a fundamental process in the development of
Physics. For this very reason, it constitutes an inevitable goal in Physics instruction. Mastering this process
is both a difficult goal for students and a greatly valued objective for teachers. At the same time, little
is known about how it is learned or how it is best taught.
This report attempts to contribute to better understand the meaning that students assign to mathematical
equations when solving a Physics problem. More specifically, it addresses the role of equations in progressively
modifying students? previous knowledge as they solve Physics problems. This previous knowledge
is referred to as physical intuition (diSessa, 1993) and is understood as the ?principles? students use to
understand and solve Physics problems. Some particular traits of this knowledge include: a) it is neither
purely normative, nor purely experiential, nor is it necessarily wrong, but rather a mixture of all these; b) it is
a type of knowledge found not only in novices, but also in experts, since the latter have not abandoned their
intuitions, but rather they have modified it so that it can be explained in terms of formal physical knowledge;
and c) it is a knowledge which is necessary for future learning, that is, it is useful knowledge.
Assuming that progressive modification of physical intuition occurs largely during problem solving, the question
that oriented the present study was: ?How do mathematical equations contribute to this modification
during problem solving?? Two pairs of third-year university students were interviewed as they solved a problem
on hydrostatics. Students had covered this topic during the previous year. The study is of an exploratory
and interpretive nature, and is based on case analysis. Therefore, conclusions are restricted to the cases.
Its goal is not to test any hypothesis, but rather to construct one. Interviews are approximately 1 hour
long and the interviewer participated only to ask for clarification or to promote interaction between subjects.
Interviews were registered in audio and video for their analysis.
Cases are compared and analyzed in regards to the role of mathematical equations in modifying ? or not
modifying ? students? physical intuitions during the solving process. Given the exploratory nature of the
study, results are tentative and restricted to the cases studied. They are, however, valuable in providing
an onset to formulate hypothesis. The hypothesis suggested is that the mathematical formalism not always
helps students to question or refine their physical intuitions. In particular, this formalism is not helpful
when it does not involve their intuitions (whether correct or incorrect) in a way evident to students. This
hypothesis goes beyond the one proposed by Sherin (2006), according to which mathematical equations
decide among competing physical intuitions, and thus allow for the refinement of intuitive physics knowledge.
This hypothesis is extended, and a more binding relation is proposed for physical intuition and mathematics,
in which equations are subordinated to physical intuitions. In this extended hypothesis, students? intuitions
seem to define which mathematical equations are accepted as plausible and which are not.