Investigation of Diverse Representational Modes in the Learning of Physics and Chemistry

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The goal of this project is to investigate the role played by diverse representational modesin the learning of physics and chemistry concepts. We will explore the relationship between theform of representation of complex concepts in physics and chemistry, and students' ability to learnthese concepts. We will determine the specific learning difficulties that arise as students struggle tomaster concepts posed in different representational forms, and we will apply our findingsimmediately to the development of improved curricular materials and instructional methods. Wewill then assess the effectiveness of these new materials and methods in bringing about greaterstudent mastery of the targeted concepts. The issues we will investigate include the following:1) What subject-specific learning difficulties may be identified with various forms ofrepresentation of particular concepts in the introductory physics and chemistry curriculum?2) What generalizations may be possible regarding the relative degree of difficulty of variousrepresentational modes when compared with each other, in learning of particular concepts?3) Do individual students do consistently well or poorly with particular forms of representation,with widely varying types of subject matter?4) Are there any consistent correlations among students' relative performance with differentrepresentational modes, and parameters such as major field, gender, age, learning style, etc.?5) Does the overuse or under-use of certain types of representationalforms in standard instruction have any potential impact on members of traditionallyunderrepresented groups? Test instruments, consisting of sets of closely matched problems presented in several different forms of representation, will be administered simultaneously to all students in a class.Analysis of students' responses will allow us to determine whether the learning difficulties areconcept-related or representation-related, or both. We will develop and validate many of theseclosely matched problem sets, dealing with a wide variety of basic topics in the introductorycurricula. These will be administered to students enrolled in both algebra-based and calculus-basedcourses, at Iowa State University and at other institutions. We will also conduct and record manyclinical interviews with individual students in order to probe in more depth their understanding ofmultiple representations. As we identify widespread learning difficulties related to representationalmode, we will develop and test curricular materials specifically designed to address and remedythese obstacles to learning.