Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

8-1-2018

Publication Title

Physics Education Research Conference (PERC)

DOI

10.1119/perc.2018.pr.Harrer

Disciplines

Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics

Abstract

Learning physics is socially organized through interactions with peers and more competent others. Instructors' and peers' assessment of and responsiveness to learners' ideas in the moment is critical for the collaborative construction of knowledge in physics. However, we still know little about how instructors and learners negotiate the value and productiveness of ideas. While to an outsider, some of the ideas physics learners discuss do not seem immediately valuable or productive for the problem being solved, Duckworth encourages us to pursue an 'insider's view' on how a learner experiences their ideas. Building on Duckworth, I pursue an 'insider's view' to better understand how peers and teachers experience each other's ideas. In particular, I examine the interactional methods and resources participants use to express ideas and to mark their own or others' ideas as wonderful or not-so-wonderful. I demonstrate how participants rely on a variety of multimodal communicational tools, including speech, words, gestures, and whiteboard inscriptions to negotiate wonderfulness, extending our current understanding of how peers and instructors are responsive to physics ideas in the moment.

Comments

This article was originally presented at the Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), 2018, and can also be found online at this link.

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