Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion

Coordination class theory is used to explain college students’ judgments about animated depictions of moving objects. diSessa’s coordination class theory models a “concept” as a complex knowledge system that can reliably determine a particular type of information in widely varying situations. In the...

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Main Authors: Thomas C. Thaden-Koch, Robert J. Dufresne, Jose P. Mestre
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2006-11-01
Series:Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.2.020107
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author Thomas C. Thaden-Koch
Robert J. Dufresne
Jose P. Mestre
author_facet Thomas C. Thaden-Koch
Robert J. Dufresne
Jose P. Mestre
author_sort Thomas C. Thaden-Koch
collection DOAJ
description Coordination class theory is used to explain college students’ judgments about animated depictions of moving objects. diSessa’s coordination class theory models a “concept” as a complex knowledge system that can reliably determine a particular type of information in widely varying situations. In the experiment described here, fifty individually interviewed college students judged the realism of two sets of computer animations depicting balls rolling on a pair of tracks. The judgments of students from an introductory physics class were strongly affected by the number of balls depicted (one or two), but the judgments of students from an educational psychology class were not. Coordination analysis of interview transcripts supports the interpretation that physics students’ developing physics knowledge led them to consistently miss or ignore some observations that the other students consistently paid attention to. The analysis highlights the context sensitivity and potential fragility of coordination systems, and leads to the conclusion that students’ developing knowledge systems might not necessarily result in consistently improving performance.
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spelling doaj.art-e2fec536119f42099a6fbfc17c92f0162022-12-22T04:03:49ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research1554-91782006-11-012202010710.1103/PhysRevSTPER.2.020107Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motionThomas C. Thaden-KochRobert J. DufresneJose P. MestreCoordination class theory is used to explain college students’ judgments about animated depictions of moving objects. diSessa’s coordination class theory models a “concept” as a complex knowledge system that can reliably determine a particular type of information in widely varying situations. In the experiment described here, fifty individually interviewed college students judged the realism of two sets of computer animations depicting balls rolling on a pair of tracks. The judgments of students from an introductory physics class were strongly affected by the number of balls depicted (one or two), but the judgments of students from an educational psychology class were not. Coordination analysis of interview transcripts supports the interpretation that physics students’ developing physics knowledge led them to consistently miss or ignore some observations that the other students consistently paid attention to. The analysis highlights the context sensitivity and potential fragility of coordination systems, and leads to the conclusion that students’ developing knowledge systems might not necessarily result in consistently improving performance.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.2.020107
spellingShingle Thomas C. Thaden-Koch
Robert J. Dufresne
Jose P. Mestre
Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research
title Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
title_full Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
title_fullStr Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
title_full_unstemmed Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
title_short Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
title_sort coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.2.020107
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