PROCEEDINGS OF THE 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2016
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Physics: Bridging the embodied and symbolic worlds of mathematical thinking
Page: 1340
Physics spans understanding in three domains – the Embodied (Real) World, the Formal (Laws) World, and the Symbolic (Math) World. Expert physicists fluidly move among these domains. Deep, conceptual understanding and problem solving thrive in fluency in all three worlds and the facility to make connections among them. However, novice students struggle to embody the symbols or symbolically express the embodiments. The current research focused on how a physics instructor used drawings and models to help his students develop more expert-like thinking and move among the worlds.