Learning buoyancy during problem solving: when and how?

BUTELER, LAURA M.; COLEONI, ENRIQUE A.; PEREA, MARÍA ANDREA

Bar Harbor, Maine

Congreso; 2013 Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research Conference; 2013

The present case-study aims at a deeper understanding of what learnig should be (or not) expected during a problema solving activity. The subjects involved are three university students of an Introductory physics course solving a set of problems on hydrostatic contents, and the concept of buoyant force in particular. Coordination Class Theory (developed by diSessa and Wagner) is used to understand when and how the students? learning takes place. Results show some aspects of the learning dynamic that takes place in relation to characteristics of the context at hand.