Related papers: Case Study: Coordinating Among Multiple Semiotic R…
Diagrammatic reasoning (DR) is pervasive in human problem solving as a powerful adjunct to symbolic reasoning based on language-like representations. The research reported in this paper is a contribution to building a general purpose DR…
In this paper, we investigated semantic communication for multi-task processing using an information-theoretic approach. We introduced the concept of a "semantic source", allowing multiple semantic interpretations from a single observation.…
In collaborative small-group work, physics students need to both manage social conflict and grapple with conceptual and epistemological differences. In this paper, we document several outlets that students use as tools for managing social…
To represent anything from mathematical concepts to real-world objects, we have to resort to an encoding. Encodings, such as written language, usually assume a decoder that understands a rich shared code. A semantic embedding is a form of…
This study utilizes a sociocultural interpretation of Self-Determination Theory to better understand the role that learning contexts play in generating student motivation, engagement, and identity. By drawing on previous motivation research…
We describe the development of a junior-senior level course for Physics majors designed to teach Mathematica skills in support of their undergraduate coursework, but also to introduce students to modern research level results. Standard…
The ability to express scientific concepts in mathematical terms and integrate scientific and mathematical reasoning about a phenomenon is a foundational cognitive process involved in scientific thinking. This process called blended…
Students in inquiry science classrooms face an essential tension between sharing new ideas and critically evaluating those ideas. Both sides of this tension pose affective risks that can discourage further discussion, such as the…
This article investigates the sensemaking demonstrated in 6th grade students' written responses to a single question free response final exam for physics asking them to recount everything they learned over the course of the academic year.…
This study focuses on category formation for individual agents and the dynamics of symbol emergence in a multi-agent system through semiotic communication. Semiotic communication is defined, in this study, as the generation and…
Understanding the mechanisms of student sensemaking while navigating the physics problem-solving process can play an important role in developing approaches to helping students become proficient problem solvers. Since most prior studies on…
Covariational reasoning--considering how changes in one quantity affect another, related quantity--is a foundation of quantitative modeling in physics. Understanding quantitative models is a learning objective of introductory physics…
Integrating computation into physics teaching is a curricular move that, at present, has been predominately studied for its cognitive impacts. However, if this modality of instruction shifts how students engage with physics, we argue there…
Recognizing semantically similar sentences or paragraphs across languages is beneficial for many tasks, ranging from cross-lingual information retrieval and plagiarism detection to machine translation. Recently proposed methods for…
Learning is usually performed by observing real robot executions. Physics-based simulators are a good alternative for providing highly valuable information while avoiding costly and potentially destructive robot executions. We present a…
In active engagement physics classrooms, students get opportunities to make sense of physics together through discussion. They do not always take up these opportunities, in part because of the risk of sharing their ideas and having them…
In recent years, natural language processing (NLP) has become integral to educational data mining, particularly in the analysis of student-generated language products. For research and assessment purposes, so-called embedding models are…
Research in student knowledge and learning of science has typically focused on explaining conceptual change. Recent research, however, documents the great degree to which student thinking is dynamic and context-sensitive, implicitly calling…
Development of conceptual multiple-choice tests related to a particular physics topic is important for designing research-based learning tools to reduce the difficulties. We explore the difficulties that the advanced undergraduate and…
While pre-trained language models have obtained state-of-the-art performance for several natural language understanding tasks, they are quite opaque in terms of their decision-making process. While some recent works focus on rationalizing…