Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism

Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	Ricardo Karam
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2014
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/489a79a93c614602a636037c18606bc2
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:489a79a93c614602a636037c18606bc2
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:489a79a93c614602a636037c18606bc22021-12-02T11:11:33ZFraming the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.0101191554-9178https://doaj.org/article/489a79a93c614602a636037c18606bc22014-05-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.010119http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.010119https://doaj.org/toc/1554-9178Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way mathematics is treated in physics instruction. Starting from an overall distinction between a technical approach, which involves an instrumental (tool-like) use of mathematics, and a structural one, focused on reasoning about the physical world mathematically, the goal of this study is to characterize the development of the latter in didactic contexts. For this purpose, a case study was conducted on the electromagnetism course given by a distinguished physics professor. The analysis of selected teaching episodes with the software Videograph led to the identification of a set of categories that describe different strategies used by the professor to emphasize the structural role of mathematics in his lectures. As a consequence of this research, an analytic tool to enable future comparative studies between didactic approaches regarding the way mathematics is treated in physics teaching is provided.Ricardo KaramAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research, Vol 10, Iss 1, p 010119 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Ricardo Karam Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
description	Physics education research has shown that students tend to struggle when trying to use mathematics in a meaningful way in physics (e.g., mathematizing a physical situation or making sense of equations). Concerning the possible reasons for these difficulties, little attention has been paid to the way mathematics is treated in physics instruction. Starting from an overall distinction between a technical approach, which involves an instrumental (tool-like) use of mathematics, and a structural one, focused on reasoning about the physical world mathematically, the goal of this study is to characterize the development of the latter in didactic contexts. For this purpose, a case study was conducted on the electromagnetism course given by a distinguished physics professor. The analysis of selected teaching episodes with the software Videograph led to the identification of a set of categories that describe different strategies used by the professor to emphasize the structural role of mathematics in his lectures. As a consequence of this research, an analytic tool to enable future comparative studies between didactic approaches regarding the way mathematics is treated in physics teaching is provided.
format	article
author	Ricardo Karam
author_facet	Ricardo Karam
author_sort	Ricardo Karam
title	Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
title_short	Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
title_full	Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
title_fullStr	Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
title_full_unstemmed	Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism
title_sort	framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: a case study on electromagnetism
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/489a79a93c614602a636037c18606bc2
work_keys_str_mv	AT ricardokaram framingthestructuralroleofmathematicsinphysicslecturesacasestudyonelectromagnetism
_version_	1718396162291007488

Framing the structural role of mathematics in physics lectures: A case study on electromagnetism

Ejemplares similares