Sherin, diSessa & Hammer, Interactive Learning Environments (1993)

Dynaturtle revisited: Learning physics through collaborative design of a computer model

B. Sherin, A. diSessa & D. Hammer, Interactive Learning Environments, 3(2), p 91-118 (1993). (link to journal)

Abstract: We investigate two related issues. In what ways can we support student inquiry in the classroom? How can innovative representational systems support learning?In the first case, we advocate collaborative design as a form of activity particularly suited for supporting student inquiry in physics. Students can easily understand and engage in activities that are framed in terms of design, and the task of design also provides a context in which idealized worlds can be considered naturally. With respect to representations for learning, we explore the use of programming language to mediate design and inquiry in physics. Programming provides students with an alternative means of expression that is precise and compact. Because a computer language contains certain commands and structures, and not others, it both constrains and enables. In addition, programming can easily capture causal relations and time development, features central to physics. We make our points by displaying and analyzing a teacher-led class discussion in which a group of high school students, working together at a blackboard, designed a computer program that models frictionless Newtonian motion.

Metz & Hammer, Interactive Learning Environments (1993)

Learning physics in a computer microworld: In what sense a world?

K. Metz & D. Hammer, Interactive Learning Environments, 3(1), p 55-76 (1993). (link to journal)

Abstract: The term microworld implies that there is some form of worldness in students' learning in this software genre. This article develops a conceptual framework to analyze the sense in which the world metaphor may or may not hold. It also applies the framework to data of students interacting with one computer microworld. We consider three possible senses of the metaphor. In the strongest sense, the artifact qua microworld defines the realm within which the students are reasoning. In a weaker sense, the student constructs a worldlike conceptual space. In the weakest sense of the metaphor, the software functions as a world only in the sense that it encourages the students' construction of inferences from one situation to another. We videotaped 12 physics-naive high school students interacting with Elmira, a computer microworld designed to foster students' reasoning about Relative Motion across a broad variety of combinations of motions (linear and/or circular). The finding that students were not constrained to the Relative Motion interpretation and the prevalence of alternative interpretations was inconsistent with the strongest sense of the metaphor. The weaker, constructed space sense of the microworld metaphor also appeared invalid here, in view of the students' flexible use of broad range of strategies based on fundamentally different representations and the weak connections between puzzle interpretation and problem-solving strategies. The low frequency of puzzles that the students related indicate a limited conceptualization of interconnectedness of the puzzles. This is not to say that the microworld was not successful, we believe it was: Learning did occur, and students came to interpret the microworld in accordance with the designer's intentions. We mean only to raise the question of whether it is appropriate to assume a worldlike quality to students' reasoning within a microworld.

Redish, Computers in Physics (1993)

Are Computers Appropriate for Teaching Physics?

E. F. Redish, Computers in Physics, 7, 613 (Nov/Dec 1993). (html version)

Redish & Wilson, American Journal of Physics (1993)

Student Programming in the Introductory Physics Course: M.U.P.P.E.T. 

E. F. Redish & J. M. Wilson, American Journal of Physics, 61, 222 (1993). (html version)

Abstract: Since 1983, the Maryland University Project in Physics and Educational Technology (M.U.P.P.E.T.) has been investigating the implication of including student programming in an introductory physics course for physics majors. Many significant changes can result. One can rearrange some content to be more physically appropriate, include more realistic problems, and introduce some contemporary topics. We also find that one can begin training the student in professional research-related skills at an earlier stage than is traditional. We learned that the inclusion of carefully considered computer content requires an increased emphasis on qualitative and analytic thinking.