David Brookes

Using Conceptual Metaphor and Functional Grammar to Explore How Language Used in Physics Affects Student Learning.

This paper introduces a theory about the role of language in learning physics. The theory is developed in the context of physics students and physicists talking and writing about the subject of quantum mechanics. We found that physicists language encodes different varieties of analogical models through the use of grammar and conceptual metaphor. We hypothesize that students categorize concepts into ontological categories based on the grammatical structure of physicists language. We also hypothesize that students over-extend and misapply conceptual metaphors in physicists speech and writing. Using our theory, we will show how, in some cases, we can explain student difficulties in quantum mechanics as difficulties with language.

Role of Experiments in Physics Instruction — A Process Approach

This paper describes an approach to classroom experiments that serves roles closer to that in the practice of physics. We propose that in the history of physics most “classical” experiments fall into one of three groups: observational experiments, testing theoretical model experiments, or application experiments.

Do our words really matter? Case studies from quantum mechanics

To understand the role of language in learning physics, we will treat it as one possible representation of a physical model. We will then present a theoretical framework that enables us to identify physical models encoded in language. We will present data showing that physicists use linguistic representations to reason productively about physical systems and problems. We will also present a case study and supporting evidence to argue that these linguistic representations are being used and applied by physics students when they reason. Sometimes students misapply and overextend these linguistic representations. This study allows us to understand and account for some student difficulties.

Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat

We aim to examine communication in physics from a linguistic perspective and suggest a theoretical viewpoint that may enable us to explain and understand many physics students’ alternative conceptions. We present evidence, in the context of the concept of heat, that physicists seem to speak and write about physical systems with a set of one or more systematic metaphors that are well understood in their community. We argue that physics students appear to be prone to misinterpreting and overextending the same metaphors and that these misinterpretations exhibit themselves as students’ alternative conceptions. We will analyze physicists’ discourse about heat and present evidence of a connection between students’ alternative conceptions and the possibility that they are misinterpreting the language that they read and hear.

Student Perceptions of Physics by Inquiry at Ohio State

Physics by Inquiry (PbI) has been adopted and taught at the Ohio State University for more than a decade. A Q‐type instrument, the LPVI, was used to assess students’ perceptions of this teaching method and measure the consonance between these and instructors’ goals. We present methods of analysis to make use of all the information collected with this survey. In applying the LPVI to different sections of the PbI course, we found many similarities in students’ perceptions and also some interesting differences. We also found similarities and differences between students’ perceptions and the goals of PbI.

Physical Phenomena in Real Time

The use of videos allows teachers to tame the vagaries of experimentation while engaging students in the process of physics. There is a growing realization that nurturing scientists for the 21st century requires engaging students in the processes of doing science (1). For students to be engaged in the process of doing physics, they need to learn to think like a physicist. Physics is more than the final content that we assess in a traditional exam. Much of its richness is the process through which physicists acquire knowledge and those specific “habits of mind” that are necessary to practice physics. For example, when solving an experimental problem, a physicist needs to decide what features of the problem are relevant and which features can be ignored, how to represent the problem in different ways, including mathematical expressions, how to use available equipment to collect necessary data, how to analyze the data, and how to evaluate the results (2, 3). Investigations are subject to the variability of experimental conditions and unanticipated complications. What if we could guide students so that they can make progress in a short amount of class time, yet still be engaged in the process of doing physics?