negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a … · 2013. 8. 22. · negotiating energy...

Negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a materially structured environment

Rachel E Scherr1 Hunter G Close2 Eleanor W Close2 Virginia J Flood3 Sarah B McKagan1

Amy D Robertson1 Lane Seeley1 Michael C Wittmann34 and Stamatis Vokos1

1Department of Physics Seattle Pacific University Seattle Washington 98119 USA2Department of Physics Texas State University San Marcos Texas 78666 USA3Maine Center for Research in STEM Education Orono Maine 04469 USA4Department of Physics University of Maine Orono Maine 04469 USA

(Received 18 January 2013 published 12 July 2013)

We provide evidence that a learning activity called Energy Theater engages learners with key

conceptual issues in the learning of energy including disambiguating matter flow and energy flow and

theorizing mechanisms for energy transformation A participationist theory of learning in which learning

is indicated by changes in speech and behavior supports ethnographic analysis of learnersrsquo embodied

interactions with each other and the material setting We conduct detailed analysis to build plausible

causal links between specific features of Energy Theater and the conceptual engagement that we observe

Disambiguation of matter and energy appears to be promoted especially by the material structure of the

Energy Theater environment in which energy is represented by participants while objects are represented

by areas demarcated by loops of rope Theorizing mechanisms of energy transformation is promoted

especially by Energy Theaterrsquos embodied action which necessitates modeling the time ordering of energy

transformations

DOI 101103PhysRevSTPER9020105 PACS numbers 0140Fk 0140Ha 0140J

I INTRODUCTION

Energy is a crosscutting concept in science and featuresprominently in national science education documentsincluding the Next Generation Science Standards Energyplays multiple roles not only in scientific and engineeringwork but also in larger sociopolitical and economic con-texts National priorities urge us to prepare learners with adeep understanding of energy ideas

Deep understanding of energy can be elusive Energy isan abstract concept in the sense that it cannot be opera-tionally defined independent of its specific forms Likematter energy obeys a conservation principle but energyand matter are distinct from one another Even morechallenging than these conceptual issues are issues ofinterdisciplinary relevance All scientific and engineeringdisciplines claim energy as their own and all conceptualizeenergy in different discipline-specific ways [12]Physicists prioritize well-circumscribed systems (such asheat engines) and study energy inputs and outputs margin-alizing the energy changes in the environment of thosesystems Biologists in contrast may organize systemsaccording to form or function and track the flow of energyin open systems (such as food webs) Chemists often findconcepts such as enthalpy and free energy more useful totheir practice than energy itself Outside all of these

disciplinary practices sociopolitical discourse has itsown priorities and language in which the energy availableto serve human purposes is both created (in power plants)and destroyed (in processes that render it unavailable tous) Learners need instructional approaches that respond tothese diverse issuesThe Energy Project is a five-year NSF-funded project

whose goal is to promote elementary and secondary teach-ersrsquo development of formative assessment practices in thecontext of energy Our goals for energy learning are spe-cific to our population of learners and include conceptualunderstanding sociopolitical relevance creative flexibilityand representational competence Our progress towardsome of these goals is reported elsewhere [3ndash10] Thispaper focuses on conceptual learning of physics contentwhich is a primary need of elementary and secondaryteachers [11ndash13] Our primary conceptual learning goalis for learners to conserve energy as they track the transfersand transformations of energy within into or out of thesystem of interest in complex physical processesAs part of tracking energy transfers among objects

learners should (i) distinguish energy from matter includ-ing recognizing that energy flow does not uniformly alignwith the movement of matter and should (ii) identifyspecific mechanisms by which energy is transferred amongobjects such as mechanical work and thermal conductionAs part of tracking energy transformations within objectslearners should (iii) associate specific forms with specificmodels and indicators (eg kinetic energy with speedandor coordinated motion of molecules thermal energywith random molecular motion andor temperature) and

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms ofthe Creative Commons Attribution 30 License Further distri-bution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) andthe published articlersquos title journal citation and DOI

PHYSICAL REVIEW SPECIAL TOPICS - PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH 9 020105 (2013)

1554-9178=13=9(2)=020105(18) 020105-1 Published by the American Physical Society

(iv) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is con-verted from one form to another such as incandescenceand metabolism Finally we hope for learners to be able tooptimize systems to maximize some energy transfers andtransformations and minimize others subject to constraintsbased in both imputed mechanism (eg objects must havemotion energy in order for gravitational energy to change)and the second law of thermodynamics (eg heating isirreversible) We hypothesize that a subsequent goal ofenergy learningmdashinnovating to meet socially relevantneedsmdashdepends crucially on the extent to which thesegoals have been met

In order to better illustrate the high aspiration that thesegoals represent we offer an analogy from economics [14]What would it mean for someone to be able to track thetransfers and transformations of assets within into or outof systems of interest in the American economy Whatwould one need to know in order to optimize the effect ofthe Federal Reserversquos quantitative easing on unemploy-ment bond prices or interest rates Aphorisms such aslsquolsquoa rising tide lifts all boatsrsquorsquo or lsquolsquoenergy is conservedrsquorsquo arenot sufficient to enable rigorous analysis Learners need thetools to hypothesize through what means in what temporalorder and with what observable evidence energy flowsdynamically in a specific real-world situation

We describe a learning activity called Energy Theaterthat is designed to promote conceptual understanding ofenergy Our research addresses the following questions

With what specific key conceptual issues of energy dolearners engage while doing Energy Theater

By what processes does Energy Theater cause learn-ers to engage with those specific conceptual issues

We provide evidence that Energy Theater supports dis-ambiguating energy and matter [goal (i) above] and theo-rizing mechanisms for energy transformation [goal (iv)above] [We expect to address (ii) and (iii) in future work[81516] ] We conduct detailed analysis to build plausiblecausal links between specific features of Energy Theaterand the conceptual engagement that we observe in whichlearners collaboratively negotiate meaning in a materiallystructured environment

II ENERGY THEATER

We structure our energy instruction around a substancemetaphor for energy which supports a model of energy asconserved localized transferring among objects and trans-forming among forms [34] These features constitute apowerful conceptual model of energy that may be used toexplain and predict energy phenomena [17ndash22] Though thismetaphor has limitations [1823] its benefits for our specificinstructional goals outweigh its possible disadvantages [3]

Energy Theater is a learning activity that is based on asubstance metaphor for energy [4] In Energy Theater eachparticipant identifies as a unit of energy that has one and onlyone form at any given timeGroups of learnerswork together

to represent the energy transfers and transformations in aspecific physical scenariomdashfor example a refrigerator cool-ing food or a light bulb burning steadily Participants choosewhich forms of energy andwhich objects in the scenariowillbe representedObjects in the scenario correspond to regionson the floor As energy moves and changes form in thescenario participantsmove to different locations on the floorand change their represented form The rules of EnergyTheater are as follows Each person is a unit of energy in the scenario Regions on the floor correspond to objects in the

scenario Each person has one form of energy at a time Each person indicates their form of energy in some

way often with a hand sign People move from one region to another as energy is

transferred and change hand sign as energy changesform

The number of people in a region or making a par-ticular hand sign corresponds to the quantity of energyin a certain object or of a particular form respectively

Energy Theater represents energy as being conservedemplaced and changing form it explicitly shows energy asbeing located in objects [24] flowing among objectsand accumulating in objects and it is a dynamic represen-tation able to show processes as they unfold as well aslsquolsquosnapshotsrsquorsquo of energy at specific instants These are thefeatures of an energy model that promote detailed trackingof energy transfers and transformations in complex real-world processes [34] Learners work together to negotiatethis representation of the energy dynamics in a particularscenario with an end goal of enacting the representation ina final performance for their peersThis paper presents a specific enactment of Energy

Theater in which a particular group of learners modelsenergy transfers and transformations for a specific physicalscenario an incandescent light bulb burning steadilyRoughly speaking electrical energy flows from the baseof the light bulb into the filament where some transformsinto thermal energy via the dissipative process of Jouleheating Some of the thermal energy in the filament trans-forms to light energy that travels outward to the surround-ings (incandescence) Thus while the electric current flowsin a closed loop around the circuit some of the energyflows out into the environmentAn Energy Theater analysis prompts learners to make

decisions such as whether to subdivide the relevant objects(eg into what part of the bulb does energy flow Whereexactly is the electrical energy transformed into thermalenergy) and how to accurately represent the time order ofenergy transfers and transformations (eg are thermalenergy and light energy generated simultaneously or isone generated first) Comparable decisions might bemade by students constructing free-body diagrams thoughin many instructional contexts students have such deci-sions made for them In our instructional environment

RACHEL E SCHERR et al PHYS REV ST PHYS EDUC RES 9 020105 (2013)

020105-2

learners are explicitly instructed to make their own reason-able decisions as to what to represent with the goal beingto offer a satisfyingly rich picture of energy dynamics andaddress any specific questions that may have been raisedwhile abiding by the constraints of the activity For ex-ample there are only so many people in the group so thegroup needs to find a way to make do with only thatnumber of units of energy

III AFFORDANCES OFENERGY THEATER FOR LEARNING

Energy Theater is both a representation (a visual render-ing of a scientific phenomenon) and a learning activity (inwhich participants act jointly to construct scientific ideas)In an earlier publication [4] our focus was on EnergyTheater as a representation In this paper we focus onEnergy Theater as a learning activity one that is both social(involving the collaboration of multiple participants) andembodied (learners participate with their bodies) The sub-ject of our analysis is learnersrsquo embodied collaborationswith one another in the material setting that Energy Theatercreates We offer a group of related theoretical perspectiveson howEnergy Theater promotes collaborative engagementwith key conceptual issues in the learning of energy

A Embodied interaction

Our analysis of socially orchestrated action in EnergyTheater is informed by a theory of embodied interaction[25] We adopt a view of the body as a site for the dynamicproduction of meanings and actions [2627] These mean-ings and actions are produced in multiple interactingand mutually elaborating modalities including physicalorientation location gesture pointing gaze talk prosodyintonation and tool use [25ndash29] For example in a briefexchange among girls playing hopscotch when one girlmakes a mistake the second girl communicates the error toher using words parallel grammatical construction speechrhythm and intonation hand gestures foot stomps orien-tation of body and gaze relative to the first girl andpositioning of her body relative to the (interrupted) motionof the first girl [26] The message is a complex representa-tional entity that relies on the multiple bodily actions fromwhich it is constructed [30]

In earlier publications [34] we motivated EnergyTheater in terms of a distinct but compatible theoryembodied cognition in its lsquolsquoconceptualistrsquorsquo sense [27]referring to the theory that humans develop common con-ceptual systems based on common biologically givenbodies and shared recurrent physical experiences Theseconceptual systems make themselves apparent linguisti-cally in the grammar used to speak of abstractions[31ndash33] A conceptualist approach to embodied cognitionis particularly appropriate to transcript analysis of the sortconducted in our earlier work [34] An lsquolsquointeractionistrsquorsquo[27] perspective is better suited to the present analysis

in which video documentation shows participants co-constructing meaning by means of body placementorientation gesture and other bodily actionsEmbodied interaction plays a documented role in learn-

ing Learners in classrooms naturally employ their bodiesin the process of making sense of unfamiliar scientific ormathematical phenomena [34ndash48] particularly when theyare asked to share their emerging understanding of eventswith peers [2944ndash48] Learnersrsquo production of gesturesmay precede their production of technical science wordsand serve as a developmental stepping stone in the evolu-tion of learnersrsquo scientific discourse [47] These studiesprimarily investigate situations in which participants usemultiple modalities naturally ie without prescriptionbased on an engineered design for learningIn Energy Theater instructors deliberately arrange for

human bodies or parts of the body to stand in symbolicallyfor entities in the description or explanation of a phenome-non Energy Theater prescribes that certain body actionshave certain categories of meaning and broadly promotesthe improvised use of those and similar body actions for thesocial negotiation of meaning Another example of anembodied learning activity in physics is the applicationof the right-hand rule for determining the direction of themagnetic force on a moving charge A variety of otherembodied learning activities have been developed in whichthe body represents mathematical entities [49] molecules[50] electrical charges [5152] celestial bodies [53ndash55]computer science entities [56] components of a dynamicsystem [5758] cellular processes [5960] and even liter-ary devices [61]Embodied learning activities are distinct from lsquolsquokines-

thetic activitiesrsquorsquo in which the human body is employed asa sensor eg for comparing the physical sensations asso-ciated with different forces pressures torques and so on[62ndash64] They are also distinct from activities in whichstudents move their bodies for the sake of general physi-ological stimulation Though these activities may alsoenhance learningwe suggest that they do so throughmecha-nisms different from the interactive production of meaning

B Learning through participation

We identify Energy Theater as a social embodied learn-ing activity meaning that multiple bodies are used sym-bolically in concert with the enactment negotiated andinterpreted by the community Because the interpretationof these community acts is often not clear to everyoneinvolved the establishment of a consensus interpretationfor the act is also socially negotiated To whatever extenteach person is invested in a particular proposed globalsolution to an Energy Theater problem that person isalso invested in persuading others to see the value in theproposed solution since any global proposal requiresothersrsquo willful cooperation if it is to be part of the finalperformance As when a barbershop quartet sings a chord

NEGOTIATING ENERGY DYNAMICS THROUGH PHYS REV ST PHYS EDUC RES 9 020105 (2013)

020105-3

one participant who makes an unexpected contributionchanges the whole result for everyone The consequenceis a high intensity of negotiation of meaning

A sociocultural perspective informs our understandingof learning as a process of becoming part of a communityas indicated by adopting the language values and practi-ces of that community [65] In this lsquolsquoparticipationistrsquorsquo pointof view learning is indicated by changes in a personrsquosspeech and behavior [6667] The learning that EnergyTheater promotes is evident for all learners whose talkabout energy becomes more aligned with that of disciplin-ary experts Learners are not expected to make smoothlinear progress toward expertise rather learners areexpected to test out words and practices often using termsand behaviors before they have fully accepted or under-stood their meaning [6869] For example learners whoargue about whether it is lsquolsquoelectricityrsquorsquo lsquolsquoelectrical energyrsquorsquoor lsquolsquoelectronsrsquorsquo that travel around an electrical circuit areunderstood to be learning since their discussion movesthem toward expert use of disciplinary language (whetheror not they display canonical usage at the end of a particu-lar episode) How this negotiation unfolds depends signifi-cantly on learnersrsquo means of interaction with each otherand the material setting

C Interaction in a material environment

The human size of the Energy Theater arena facilitatesembodied collaborative work Each participant has spatialaccess to the area of the floor in which the energy dynamicsare being enacted [70] and everyone has the tools formaking proposals visible to themselves and others (bodiesand parts of bodies) Particular physical arrangements ofpeople space and tools can either promote or hinderparticular types of interactions [7172] The material envi-ronment created in Energy Theater is markedly differentfrom one in which one participant has privileged access tothe representation space or the tools for modifying it suchas when one student draws a diagram in her personalnotebook with her own pen or a group of students huddlearound a computer screen for which there is only onekeyboard [4467374]

During Energy Theater negotiations the cognitivedemands on the group are numerous The cognitive workof describing energy transfers and transformations in aphysical scenario can be thought of as the process of posingand seeking answers to a set of interrelated questionsWhat objects have energy at the beginning of the scenarioHow much energy does each object have and in whatform Where does energy go and how do we knowHow much energy ends up in this form as opposed tothat other form Answering some of these questionsrequires remembering the answers to other questions andsometimes reconsidering and revising previous answersPart of what makes the task manageable is that EnergyTheater encodes information about the energy such as

lsquolsquowherersquorsquo lsquolsquohow muchrsquorsquo and lsquolsquowhat formrsquorsquo in the materialstructure of the representation the representation itselflsquolsquoremembersrsquorsquo the grouprsquos answers to these questions[75] The relevant material structure includes how manyroped-in regions there are how many people are standingin each region and what hand sign each person is makingas well as the facts that people are conserved each personhas a location and when counting people the whole isautomatically the sum of the parts Facts about people andropes are inherited into the learnersrsquo model of energy sothat for example units of energy are conserved locatedand easily summed The energy transfers and transforma-tions can then be negotiated and performed throughmanipulation of the physical representation The materialarrangement is controlled through physical action in asocial context and is thus bound to both embodied interac-tion and participation

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this section we describe our research methodologyincluding our framework for analysis general methodol-ogy data collection and episode selection

A Framework for analysis

The increasing ease of video recording offers newopportunities to create richly detailed records of classroomactivities The use of rich records of naturally occurringactivities as evidence of learner knowing promotes andsupports a sociocultural view in which learning is a pro-cess that shows in what participants do and say together[6667] For this view of learning ethnographic perspec-tives are naturally relevant [76ndash78] We identify with theinterpretive tradition [79] in which the phenomena ofinterest for learning are the meaning of activities for theparticipants This perspective asserts that participants cre-ate meaningful interpretations of physical and behavioraloccurrences that they take action based on their interpre-tations ie interpretations are causal and that these inter-pretations are often invisible to participants who treat theirinterpretations as reality [80] A primary function of theethnographic researcher in this tradition is to lsquolsquomake theinvisible visiblersquorsquo [81] to describe the implicit social andcultural organization that shapes the participantsrsquo activity[82] For example a learner may frame an instructionalactivity as an opportunity for sensemaking or as an assign-ment to fill out a worksheet [8384] The learnerrsquos framingis implicit yet it affects what she notices what knowledgeshe accesses and how she thinks to act [85ndash88]An ethnographic approach aligns with a particular the-

ory of cause in which the meanings of activities forparticipants cause actions and that causality can bededuced on the basis of an observable sequence of events[89ndash91] In this theory researchers infer cause by observ-ing the processes by which antecedents appear to lead toeffects This perspective contrasts with one in which cause


020105-4

is understood in terms of probabilistic relationshipsbetween causes and effects [91]

B Methodology

We take the perspective that the universal properties ofan event or phenomenon emerge from the specifics of aparticular case rather than from the patterns that emergeacross cases [79] In particular we demonstrate what isuniversal by identifying what theory the event or phenome-non is a case of and connecting the event to the broadertheory Thus implicit in our statement that Energy Theateris a case of a social embodied learning activity is the beliefthat we will discover something universal about socialembodied learning activities through careful study ofEnergy Theater and implicit in our choice of an EnergyTheater episode is the assumption that we will learn some-thing universal about Energy Theater through careful studyof that episode

Interpretive video analysis is the primary means forresponding to our two research questions


To answer this question we identify video episodes inwhich learners engage with energy concepts in general andconduct detailed analysis to characterize the specific con-cepts with which they engage We take as a premise thatlearnersrsquo ideas always have some seed of correctness weattend to that sound thinking both out of respect for thelearner as an intelligent person and because it is the mate-rial out of which new growth occurs We have establishedinterests in episodes that showcase the complexity of ele-mentary physics concepts [92] the correctness and sophis-tication of learner ideas that can initially appear naıve [93]the meanings and actions produced by the multiple inter-acting modalities of the body (gesture gaze prosody andso on) [48] and the regularities and expectations for learn-ing that are exposed by being violated [83]


We respond to this question with interpretive videoanalysis combined with theoretical study of learning ininteraction We identify episodes in which learners engagewith one another as they construct an understanding ofenergy and conduct detailed analysis to build plausiblecausal links between specific features of Energy Theaterand the learning events that we observe In line with ourparticipationist perspective learning events include thosein which learnersrsquo talk moves toward expert use ofdisciplinary language

C Data collection and episode selection

In what follows we describe examples of EnergyTheater in use by learners in a physics class The examplesshow Energy Theater as a learning activity in which par-ticipants negotiate a model of energy transfers and

transformations for a given physical scenario The ex-amples are from video records of professional developmentcourses for secondary teachers offered through SeattlePacific University as part of the Energy Project In theEnergy Project professional development courses are rou-tinely documented with video photographs artifact col-lection and field notes As researcher videographersdocument a particular course they take real-time fieldnotes in a cloud-based collaborative document flaggingmoments of particular interest and noting questions thatarise for them in the moment Later that same day or thefollowing day the researcher videographers identify videoepisodes of interest to share with a research team We usethe term lsquolsquoepisodersquorsquo to refer to a video-recorded stretch ofinteraction that coheres in some manner that is meaningfulto the participants [71] These episodes are the basis forcollaborative analysis development of research themesliterature searches and the generation of small or largeresearch projectsThe episodes in this paper were selected from an Energy

Theater enactment highlighted by a researcher videogra-pher (author V J F) in the summer of 2011 In this enact-ment participants negotiate and perform Energy Theaterfor an incandescent light bulb V J F highlighted thisparticular Energy Theater enactment on the basis of audio-visual clarity sustained learner engagement with a physi-cal scenario and appropriate implementation of EnergyTheater ie the participants mostly followed the rulesspecified in Sec II The enactment analyzed in this paperis not the only enactment with these features and we do notpresent evidence that it is a representative enactmentmdashthatis we do not present evidence that most other enactmentshave the same features (though our experience suggeststhat many of them do) Rather we put forward this enact-ment as a case of Energy Theater an instantiation throughwhich we may identify universal features of EnergyTheater that are evident in the concrete details of itspractice We expected that this enactment would help usto identify some of the key conceptual issues about energythat learners engage with when doing Energy Theater (ourfirst research question)After identifying this enactment as one likely to contrib-

ute to answering our research questions the first author(R E S) watched the video multiple times creating adetailed narrative of events as well as a transcript On thebasis of the narrative transcript and multiple viewingsclaims were developed that responded to each of the tworesearch questions Two episodes from within the enact-ment (described in Secs V and VI) were isolated andcaptioned to (1) illustrate learner engagement with theconceptual issues that we identified in response to our firstresearch question and (2) establish within-case connec-tions between specific features of Energy Theater (cause)and engagement with these conceptual issues (effect) ascalled for by our second research question These episodes


020105-5

appear as Videos 1 and 2 To structure the analysis thesetwo episodes were further divided into a total of sevenlsquolsquosegmentsrsquorsquo each of which highlights a particular ideabeing negotiated by the participants These segments areidentified below by a key utterance made within thatsegment

V DISAMBIGUATING MATTER AND ENERGY

A Conceptual foundation Flows of matter and energy

Matter and energy are fundamental concepts in thephysical sciences and understanding the dynamics ofeach is central to the work of science students teachersand professional scientists The Framework for K-12Science Education [94] states that lsquolsquo studentsrsquo abilitiesto conceive of the interactions of matter and energy arecentral to their science educationrsquorsquo The Framework isorganized around scientific practices crosscutting con-cepts and disciplinary core ideas crosscutting conceptsare common to all areas of science and therefore unify thestudy of STEM fields The fact that one of the sevencrosscutting concepts is lsquolsquoEnergy and matter Flowscycles and conservationrsquorsquo demonstrates a consensus inthe scientific community that these concepts are bothclosely related and centrally important

A functional understanding of matter and energyincludes the ability to keep track of transfers into or outof systems of interest and the knowledge that only throughsuch transfers can the total amount of energy or matter in asystem be changed Analysis of a system may requiretracking multiple forms of matter (eg particular elementsor molecules) and of energy (eg kinetic thermal)Availability of particular forms of matter or energy asinputs and the amount and form of energy and matteroutputs can explain the functioning of a system Thismatter-energy model applies to systems in all areas ofscience the Framework gives a biological example lsquolsquothesupply of energy and of each needed chemical elementrestricts a systemrsquos operationmdashfor example without inputsof energy (sunlight) and matter (carbon dioxide and water)a plant cannot growrsquorsquo [94] In this example as in manysystems a useful analysis of the system requires conceptu-alizing transfers of both matter and energy

In many scenarios it is possible to think of matter andenergy as moving together from one place to another forexample when convection currents carry air and thermalenergy upward or when gasoline is transferred into the fueltank of a car In other scenarios however the direction ofenergy flow is opposite the direction matter moves such asin a pulley system used to lift an object or in some of thephase transitions that take place during the water cycleDeveloping a scientific understanding of energy requiresdifferentiating energy from matter including recognizingthat energy dynamics do not uniformly align with matterdynamics [9596]

B Embodied actionDistinguishing electrons from electrical energy

In the pair of episodes analyzed in this section and thenext fourteen participants are outdoors in an open areawhere they have laid out loops of colored rope to representthe objects in their scenario of interest an incandescentbulb burning steadily In their layout one large loop of roperepresents the outer surface of the bulb a smaller loop ofrope on one side represents the bulbrsquos socket and a thirdrope laid down in a curved line within the large looprepresents the filament (Fig 1) This pictorial layout isnot the one modeled by instructors who tend to preferschematic object areas (loops that bear no visual resem-blance to the objects they represent) but is an acceptableand in some ways advantageous alternative (An advantagefor this group is identified in Sec VB4 below) Participantshave already negotiated arm movements to represent formsof energy that they term lsquolsquolight lsquolsquoheatrsquorsquo and lsquolsquoelectricalenergyrsquorsquo (We discuss some conceptual indications of theirlabels in Sec VIB) Having decided on the objects in theirsystem and the forms of energy that they think are involvedin the scenario the next task is to decide who will go wherewhen that is to map out the flow of energy (in its variousforms) among the agreed-upon objects [97]In the episode analyzed in this section participants

attempt to account for the fact that the current is exactlythe same before and after the filament yet some energyleaves the circuit through the filament The participantsrecognize this as a case in which they need to carefullydisambiguate the lsquolsquoenergy storyrsquorsquo for the light bulb and thelsquolsquomatter storyrsquorsquo and take steps to do so The episode isabout 4 minutes long (Video 1) We analyze three segmentsfrom within the episode

1 lsquolsquoThe electron flow is in a circuitrsquorsquo

At the outset of this episode Roland takes the positionthat the grouprsquos Energy Theater enactment shouldinclude the fact that the flow of electrons is in a loop Inthe transcript the equals sign marks places where a speak-errsquos utterance is continuous even as another speaker alsospeaks

FIG 1 Initial layout of ropes (lines) and people (Xs) forenactment of Energy Theater for an incandescent bulb


020105-6

Ted Why did you say we were going to moveRoland Well the whole electron flow is in a circuit It

keeps going around and around And every time itpasses through the filament frac14

Kelli And some just get takenRoland frac14 some of it gets turned into light and heat I

mean thatrsquos the simpleTed I guess Irsquom curi- I mean arenrsquot we doing like

energy though and not electrons So itrsquos about trans-fers and transformations so we donrsquotmdashlike I getyoursquore talking about the matter but we really careabout just the elec- the energy frac14

Roland Electrical energyTed frac14 transfer and transformationKelli Does it give off all of the electrical energyToni NoJennifer As itrsquos passingToni It does not so you will have energy frac14Jennifer Some of it continues around and just some of it

changes into lightToni frac14 still going in a circuit[Instructor arrives (author L S)]Jennifer So even though itrsquos not the electricity therersquos

still electrical energyToni Otherwise you would not have a current any

longerJennifer Therersquos electrical energy leaving the light

bulbToni Yes There is Otherwise you would notmdashyou have

to have a current You have to have a flow of elec-trons those electrons are going to still contain energy

Pam But not as muchJennifer So some people will stay electricity the whole

timeTed I just think yoursquore talking about matter or some-

thing that isnrsquot energy and so I donrsquotmdashI just itseems to me that it should just be about energyand we should ig- you know itrsquos about the energy

conversions and to me these diagrams are about thechanges in electrical energy and the different types ofenergy and not necessarilymdashlike what yoursquore sayingis we should represent the electrical in and electricalout because of electron flow

Pam We donrsquot have to use the word electrons We canjust call it energy

Roland Electrical energyLeah So Ted are you saying that we shouldnrsquot keep

looping is that what yoursquoreTed Irsquom not sure that loopingmdashIrsquom not sure that the

looping is happening because thatrsquos like saying thatthe wersquore going to I donrsquot knowmdashAre we sayingthat electrical energy is going to come in and thencome back out unchanged

(Many at once) No no noToni Some of it yes

In the above conversation Ted expresses his concernthat Roland and perhaps other members of the group arerepresenting the flow of matter in the light bulb when theyought to be representing the flow of energy He initiallyasks lsquolsquoArenrsquot we doing energy though and not electronsrsquorsquoand later states lsquolsquoI just think yoursquore talking about matter orsomething that isnrsquot energy it should be just aboutenergyrsquorsquo Ted seems to be asking the group to considerthe possibility that although the electrons may go aroundthe circuit in a loop the energy does not (lsquolsquoIrsquom not surethat the looping is happeningrsquorsquo) so they should not them-selves lsquolsquokeep going around and aroundrsquorsquo as Roland hadinitially suggested Toni states that the flow around thecircuit is an energy flow not (or not only) a matter flowbecause the electrons that flow around the circuit lsquolsquostillcontain energyrsquorsquo Thus she claims lsquolsquoyou will have energystill going in a circuitrsquorsquoTedrsquos concern that the electrons be distinguished from

the electrical energy is a valid one Energy Theater is arepresentation of energy and the movement of energythrough a system is not determined by the movement ofmaterial objects in the system For example in anAtwoodrsquos machine we model the energy flow as beingagainst the motion of the string over the pulley the work bythe string on each mass is negative and positive respec-tively as though the string were removing energy from thefalling mass and giving it to the rising mass The contrastbetween the movement of objects and the movement ofenergy can be counterintuitive Learners new to EnergyTheater sometimes mistakenly represent the movement ofobjects instead of energy [98] Some participants in thisgroup use language that blends energy with materialobjects Jennifer uses the term lsquolsquoelectricityrsquorsquo which couldrefer to either electrons or their energy and Pam suggeststhat if Ted is uncomfortable talking about electrons lsquolsquowecan just call it energyrsquorsquo insteadTonirsquos argument that the electrons flow together with the

energy seems to go against Tedrsquos wish to treat them as

VIDEO 1 Participants prepare to enact Energy Theater for anincandescent bulb burning steadily In this episode participantsattempt to account for the fact that the current is exactly the samebefore and after the filament yet some energy leaves the circuitthrough the filament


020105-7

separate entities Yet her argument is also valid Electronshave energy and if electrons go in a loop so does theenergy associated with them Toni speaks loudly in thispart of the discussion and overlaps other participantssuggesting that it is important to her that this fact beincluded in their representation The importance seems tostem at least partly from a wish to show that current flowsout of the bulb as well as into it she states lsquolsquootherwise youwould not have a current any longerrsquorsquo The fact that currentis not used up by a light bulb is counterintuitive to manylearners [99ndash102] Later in the discussion (just after theend of Video 1) some participants in this group expresssurprise that current flows out of the bulb as well as inalong with concern for their studentsrsquo understanding

Jennifer I think what we have to get past I think many ofour students are going to think this way like elec-tricity comes from the plug and it goes out it justkeeps coming out from

Drew That itrsquos a one-wayJennifer YeahLeah Yeah good pointJennifer And yoursquore saying and I never really thought

about it very much I havenrsquot studied it much butyoursquore saying thatrsquos not true it goes back out as well

Toni Some of it

The idea that current is used up by a light bulb is tradi-tionally understood by educators as a detrimental miscon-ception [99ndash102] Tonirsquos vehemence may indicate a wishto protect her colleagues and their students from usingEnergy Theater to support an incorrect current model

Energy Theater like any representation foregroundssome features of a physical phenomenon and deempha-sizes others While a correct Energy Theater representationneed not show the conservation of electron current anymore than a correct free-body diagram needs to show thevelocity of an object the fact that current is conserved in alight bulb is important to understanding its operation Asthe participants consider their options in representing thefirst steps of the energy dynamics they work to reconciletheir model for energy with their model for current Thisreconciliation produces several significant difficult phys-ics questions By what means does energy enter (andpossibly exit) the light bulb The current appears as thenatural culprit However the concept of current conserva-tion states that the current is the same quantity when itleaves the bulb as when it entered How can the current bethe same yet have less energy Why does an electriccircuit require a return of the current to the battery whenenergy is transformed in the light bulb These questionsare highly nontrivial have been tackled by physics lumi-naries such as Feynman and Sommerfeld and still arouseinterest in the literature [103ndash105] Our instructionalperspective on these questions is that electric circuits pro-vide an excellent context for disciplined model-based

reasoning Physics nuances raised by a specific group oflearners may be pursued to further clarify and refine thequestions being asked

2 lsquolsquoSome of us turn into light and heatas we go around the looprsquorsquo

In a subsequent section of the conversation the partic-ipants devise a model that includes both the transformationof electrical energy into other forms and the persistence ofcurrent through the filament In the proposed model anelectron is represented by a group of three units of energyeg three people who travel in a group These three peopleare initially all in the form of electrical energy as they passthrough the filament two of the three transform into twoother forms of energy which these participants call lightand heat (Again we defer discussion of these terms until alater section in which the participants give more evidenceof what they mean by these terms) Ted is lsquolsquonot convincedrsquorsquo

Kelli Three could come in and two is going to change toheat and light and onersquos going to continue aroundThen three more is going to come in and theyrsquoremdashThatrsquos my picture

Toni YepTed Irsquom just not sure why you guys are saying that To

me Irsquom not convincedBahia We have to decide what we are going to cover

electrons or electrical energyRoland Well let me see if I can handle this So if Irsquom the

electric energy the current Irsquom going in herersquos thefilament some of us go to light and heat right Imean we all go keep looping but we have to some-how display how some of us [bangs self] some ofme turns into light and heat as we go around thisloop

Drew Ted would it help and Irsquom I need clarification Irsquomnot sure if this is correct would we say Toni thatelectrons that are electrical energy that are not beingtransformed into heat and light and theyrsquore returningquote-quote lsquolsquoto complete the circuitrsquorsquo would theyhave electrical potential energy

Toni They still do otherwise you couldnrsquot have a stringof Christmas lights

Drew So maybe that helps is that wersquore not so muchtracking an electron as a function of being a form ofmatter but we really need that in the equationbecause we have this idea wersquove got electricity inthe form of electrical potential energy going back Soto make a complete picture maybe Ted we need toinclude it

Toni So if you look if we have an electron it would beus packets of energy

Leah Yeah yeah yeahToni Okay And the electron follows the circuit Roland

yoursquore going to be the energy that remains and comes


020105-8

back out And some of that energy will go off as heatsome of it will go off as light some of it continues onback Because that electron is still moving

Ted This isnrsquot about matter electronsToni No thatrsquos what electrical potential is You gotta

remember if that electron cannot move you do nothave it transfers its electrical potential by motion Sowhat we were were not electrons we were thepackets of energy in an electron Two of us wentoff one continued on

Kelli initially makes her suggestion verbally Rolandrepeats the proposal physically by walking around therepresentation space while he explains the idea Whilesaying lsquolsquoWell let me see if I can handle thisrsquorsquo he walksfrom his starting position (which happens to be in thesocket) out into the middle of the large ring formed bythe participants While saying lsquolsquoIf Irsquom the electric energythe current Irsquom going in herersquos the filamentrsquorsquo he turns hiscourse and walks back toward his starting point presum-ably following the line of the filament laid out on theground By the time he says lsquolsquoSome of us go to light andheatrsquorsquo he has returned to his starting position WithlsquolsquoRight We all go keep looping butrsquorsquo he walks backout into the middle of the ring again and pats his abdomenrepeatedly with both hands As he continues with lsquolsquoWehave to somehow displayrsquorsquo he waves his hands outwardhigh above his head as though throwing or pushing some-thing away from himself he repeats this lsquolsquodisplayrsquorsquo gestureas he rounds the corner of the filament again On the wayback to his starting point as he says lsquolsquohow some of usrsquorsquo hesmacks his chest twice with both hands hard enough tomake a sound that is audible even though he is not wearingthe microphone Finally while saying lsquolsquoor some of meturns into light and heatrsquorsquo his arms hang loosely and hereturns to his place in the circle

Recapping the action briefly Roland walks around theloop of current twice as he explains the idea proposed byKelli The first time around he simply walks as he talksThe second time around he gestures both (1) outward (thedisplay gestures) and (2) onto his own body (patting hisabdomen and banging his chest) Our interpretation ofRolandrsquos behavior is that he is attempting to simulta-neously model (1) the outward movement or display ofsomething and (2) the persistence of something around thewhole circuit In representing this complex situationRoland uses not only words but also body movementand gesture making use of the material structure of therepresentation space [26] in a one-man version of EnergyTheater Rolandrsquos explicit identification with the energymdashlsquolsquosome of mersquorsquomdashmay be an example of the blending ofpersonal identity with physics entities for the purpose ofproblem solving [106]

Drew asks a question of Toni (roughly would the return-ing electrons have electrical potential energy) and inresponse Toni not only offers evidence verbally in support

of her claim (lsquolsquoOtherwise we couldnrsquot have a string ofChristmas lightsrsquorsquo) but walks across the circle to standnext to Roland While Drew makes his statement aboutthe lsquolsquocomplete picturersquorsquo Toni grabs Roland by the upperarm with her right hand and Pam by the upper arm withher left hand and pulls them to stand close to and a littlebit in front of her When Drew is finished talking Tonisays lsquolsquoIf you had an electron it would be us packets ofenergyrsquorsquo pushing first Roland and then Pam out in frontof her and walking along behind them on the same paththat Roland had taken previously Roland walks aheadaround the path waving his arms in an approximation ofthe sign agreed upon for electrical energy behind himToni pushes Pam partway around the path then guides Pamto leave the path so that she ends up facing outward fromthe circle of participants Toni continues along the path asshe says lsquolsquoAnd the electron follows the circuit Rolandyoursquore going to be the energy that remains and comes backoutrsquorsquo She then leaves the path herself and faces partlyoutward from the circle of participants twisting her upperbody back to the middle to summarize lsquolsquoSome of thatenergy will go off as heat some of it will go off as lightsome of it continues on backrsquorsquo Figure 2 illustrates thislsquolsquoelectronrsquorsquo modelEnergy Theater enables participants to enact proposals

during the collective negotiation of the energy dynamicsRoland and Toni engage in dramatic embodied actionusing their own and othersrsquo bodily placement motiongestures and so on to create and express their ideas aboutenergy Roland simultaneously walks and gestures tomodel the outward movement of energy along with thepersistence of current around the circuit Toni grabs twoother participants to physically recruit them into herenacted model of an electron as a packet of three energyunits that travel together then transform and separate

3 lsquolsquoWersquore solving the matter-energy problemrsquorsquo

A bit later in the discussion (three minutes after the endof the episode in Video 1) Leah proposes a means tolsquolsquosolve the matter-energy problemrsquorsquo as she puts it Shesuggests that the three people representing an electronrsquosenergy carry a rope around themselves to remind viewersthat they as usual in Energy Theater are units of energywithin a material object

Leah Would it help to think of like wersquore three packetsof energy in a little rope and wersquore carrying the ropethrough as the electron and some of us are leavingthis little rope that wersquore carrying aroundWould thatsolve themdashYou know what I mean Therersquos three ofus and a little rope wersquore carrying with us into thefilament and then we leave the little rope like someof us turn into heat some turn into light and then theperson with the rope keeps coming back throughhere


020105-9

Drew The rope would representLeah An electronDrew Oh an electronLeah So then wersquore solving the matter problem the

matter-energy problemDrew You would still be the energy packet thatrsquos at a

lower energy levelLeah I mean I donrsquot know I donrsquot care but Irsquom just

thinking about your the matter-energy problemToni You know the little demo we did with the three of

us we werenrsquot representing the matter at all thatrsquosthe confusing part

Leah TrueToni And because you still have energy maintained in

the matter wersquore getting hung up on the matterrepresentation and what we did was pure energyNot all the potential is realized

Leahrsquos idea stretches the rules of Energy Theater in thatnormally ropes do not move Motion of objects is supposedto be indicated by including kinetic energy in the areadesignated for that object not by displacing the rope thatbounds the object area within the representation spaceHowever in another way Leahrsquos idea is an insightfulapplication of the rules of Energy Theater Leah proposesto mark the three people doing the walking as units ofenergy in the electron by surrounding them with a ropethus designating them in the normal Energy Theater man-ner as energy contained in a specific object WithoutLeahrsquos rope the energy units would be properly interpretedto be contained in the light bulb (given where the peopleinvolved are standing) Leahrsquos rope further specifies thatthese energy units are in an electron (which is itself in thelight bulb)

Leahrsquos suggestion might be helpful for clarifying thatthe people in the Energy Theater arena represent energynot electrons However her idea is not physically enactedby the group In response to Leahrsquos proposal Toniacknowledges potential confusion due to the lsquolsquomatter-energy problemrsquorsquo but insists that her representation islsquolsquopure energyrsquorsquo

4 Learning through participationembodiment and the material setting

This episode shows how Energy Theater promotesconceptual learning about energy through participationembodiment and the material setting Energy Theatermdashamaterial representation that uses themetaphor of energy asa substancemdashcontributes to the disambiguation of matterand energy for these participants The Energy Theaterrepresentation encodes a distinction between materialobjects and energy energy (represented by participants)is located in objects (represented by areas demarcated byloops of rope) The energy in a scenario is clearly distinctfrom the objects (ie participants stand within but are notmistaken for areas inside loops of rope) At the beginningof the episode many participants were treating matter andenergy interchangeably The activity of developing anEnergy Theater enactment for this scenario caused thegroup to grapple with the distinctions between matter andenergy and to invent enactments that illustrated thesedistinctionsThe materially structured environment of Energy

Theater enforces the constraints of the energy modellsquolsquorememberingrsquorsquo certain facts about energy and shapingthe grouprsquos insights as they work together The fact thatenergy is conserved and thus can be tracked as it movesamong the objects in the scenario is built into the materialsetting in that energy units are represented by durableobjects (people) that move among marked areas on thefloor (objects) The fact that not only energy units but alsoelectrons move among the objects in the scenario (fila-ment bulb etc) is made salient by the physical layout ofpeople and ropes in the shape of a light bulb The multipleinteracting constraints of the model are made tractable bythe stability of the physical arrangement The ropes oncelaid out remain there until they are rearranged and thepeople remain in existence though their location canchange Thus the stability of the learnersrsquo model of energyin this scenario is coupled to the stability of the materialworld [92] Partly as a result of this stability learners facethe complex question of Is the movement of energy thesame as the movement of electrons or is it differentThe fact that learners have arranged the ropes specificallyin the form of a light bulb provides some tools for them topose this question it helps them ask Does the energy go inand come out at the same physical locations as the currentdoes and in related amounts or is it a whole different flowthan the current Learners negotiate their answers to theseideas partly by negotiating the material environment andthe things in it including each other Though the rules ofEnergy Theater alone might also support a detailed energyanalysis (one might be able to do it lsquolsquoin onersquos headrsquorsquo) wesuggest that the absence of material structure would makesuch an analysis significantly more difficultInteractional as well as material affordances of Energy

Theater contribute to the group disambiguating matter and

FIG 2 lsquolsquoElectronrsquorsquo model of energy dynamics for an incan-descent bulb burning steadily E T and L represent electricalthermal and light energy respectively The dashed circle denotesan electron


020105-10

energy in this episode Ted Toni Kelli Roland and Leahengage most visibly in the collective endeavor of sense-making that characterizes learning through participationTed and Toni use claims and evidence to engage in argu-mentation with each other and with other participantsRoland and Toni physically enact proposals Kelli verbal-izes an idea for unifying their perspectives by representingboth the persistence of electric current and the dissipationof energy Leah suggests a consensus-building physicalenactment involving carrying a rope Various other partic-ipants make moves to add to the argumentation persua-sion and negotiation that move the group forward

Embodiment participation and the material settinginteract in Energy Theater to create a situated distributedunderstanding of energy flows in a light bulb for theparticipants These learning affordances push participantsto engage with key conceptual issues in energy learning inthis case the disambiguation of energy and matter

VI THEORIZING MECHANISMS OF ENERGYTRANSFORMATION

A Conceptual foundationTheorizing mechanisms for energy processes

The pursuit of causal mechanistic explanations is centralto scientific analysis The Framework for K-12 ScienceEducation states that lsquolsquomany of the most compelling andproductive questions in science are about why or howsomething happensrsquorsquo [94] Others have argued that thepursuit of coherent mechanistic accounts of natural phe-nomena is central to scientific inquiry [107ndash110] Analysesof energy dynamics can seem to sidestep questions ofmechanism when energy is understood as a pure numericalquantity lsquolsquonot a description of a mechanismrsquorsquo for a physicalprocess [111] Nonetheless if (say) kinetic energy transfersfrom one object to another our explanation of the energydynamics needs to include some mechanism by which thattransfer took placemdashperhaps a collision in which mechani-cal work was done If kinetic energy transforms to thermalenergy within an object our explanation needs to identify adissipative process by which that transformation occurs

Though national standards and disciplinary norms assertthat energy is a unitary physical quantity they also organ-ize the experience of energy into categories according tohow it is detected [9496112] In particular lsquolsquoformsrsquorsquo ofenergy are associated with specific observable and change-able properties of objects [113] In line with these normswe take the position that transformations of energy fromone form to another constitute physics phenomena appro-priate for learner analysis Energy Theater includes energytransformation and thus models energy as having variousforms In what follows we present an episode in whichlearners theorize mechanisms of energy transformationThis particular episode does not include discussion ofmechanisms of energy transfer

Thus far we have made the case that Energy Theaterpromotes the disambiguation of matter and energy In whatfollows we describe another affordance of Energy Theaterwhich is to prompt learners to theorize about mechanismsby which energy changes form (eg from electrical tothermal) Energy Theater supports learners in theorizingmechanisms of energy transformation even though suchmechanisms are not an explicit part of the representation[114] In Energy Theater forms are labels for units ofenergy (eg hand signs for each person) and changes ofform are visible events (one or more people changes handsign) In the episode below learners who decide to change(or sustain) their forms are called upon to account for theirdecisions in terms of causal mechanisms for energy trans-formations Further some questions of mechanism areclosely tied to questions of time ordering EnergyTheater represents the time order of transformations andthus may prompt questions about mechanism In the epi-sode below learners struggle over whether light energy iscreated before after or simultaneously with thermal en-ergy in an incandescent light bulb and thus whether thelight is caused by the hotness or vice versa Energy Theaterequally supports theorizing mechanisms for energy trans-fer from object to object but the data below do not bear onthat claim

B Embodied action Theories ofenergy transformation in incandescence

The episode we will examine below is from the sameEnergy Theater enactment as the previous episode (model-ing the energy transfers and transformations in an incan-descent bulb burning steadily) but occurs a few minuteslater In this part of the conversation participants discusswhether heat and light are both made from electricalenergy in the filament or whether one is made from theother The discussion raises questions of how a specificform of energy may be transformed into another form andwhat the limitations may be on such transformations Thequestion of what transformations are physically allowablealso prompts the participants to better articulate what theyunderstand heat and light to be We analyze four segmentsfrom within the four-minute episode (Video 2)

1 lsquolsquoDid we decide if wersquore going to convert the electricalto light and then heat or do them both at the same timersquorsquo

Mechanisms of energy transformation are not explicitlyrepresented in Energy Theater but frequently arise fordiscussion because other features of the representationraise questions of mechanism In the case of the lightbulb scenario participants are driven to consider mecha-nisms of energy transformation as part of deciding on thetime ordering of the transformations Ted is the first to raisethe question of whether electrical energy transforms simul-taneously to heat and light or first to one and then theother


020105-11

Ted Did we decide if wersquore going to convert the elec-trical to light and then heat or do them both at thesame time because thatrsquos still kind of unresolved forme

Roland Well the lightrsquos going to go first and then whenit hits the bulb it turns into heat

Kelli I think we should do every other person like oneperson comes in and changes to light the next personcomes in and changes to heat

Ted articulates two options for enacting the scenarioThe first is that electrical energy may turn first to light thento heat Roland may be aligning himself with this optionwhen he says that lsquolsquolightrsquos going to go firstrsquorsquo Tedrsquos secondoption is that electrical energy may turn to light and heatsimultaneously in the filament Kelli appears to be support-ing this option with her suggestion that units of electricalenergy should alternate transforming into light and heat asthey pass through the filament

Roland further states that heat is generated when it hitsthe bulb (by which we speculate that he means the glassenclosure) Rolandrsquos suggestion offers a hint ofwhat hemaymean by the term heat heat is a form of energy that appearswhen light energy impinges on a material object (lsquolsquothebulbrsquorsquo) An association of heat with the temperature of anobject is common in everyday speech in nonphysics text-books and in standards documents [1115] but is notaligned with disciplinary norms in physics in which theenergy associated with temperature is often termed lsquolsquother-mal energyrsquorsquo and the term heat refers to energy transfer froma body at higher temperature to one at lower temperatureThere is no indication that any participant in either episodeuses the term heat to refer to energy transfer Rather allparticipants speak of heat as being a form of energy Ted andKelli for example each speak of converting other forms ofenergy to heat and various participants use a fanning mo-tion to indicate their form of energy as heat

Energy Theater supports participants in distinguishingenergy forms from energy transfers in that each of these

options has a distinct representation in Energy Theater Forexample energy in the filament is represented by peoplestanding in the area representing the filament transfer ofenergy through the volume enclosed in the bulb is repre-sented by people walking through the area representingthat volume Because these two quantities are representeddifferently we need not depend on proper use of technicalterms for evidence of learner understanding Instead weaccept that in this local context the term heat refers to aform of energy associated with temperature The instructorwho is present for the whole episode elects not to correctthis misuse of a technical term consistent with our under-standing that preventing the incorrect use of the term heatmight detract from the primary goal of this learning activ-ity (to map the flow of energy in its various forms amongthe relevant objects)

2 lsquolsquoThe filament heats up first and then there is lightrsquorsquo

In response to the above exchange Pam makes a pro-posal that refers to her understanding of how light bulbswork she proposes that the heat is created on the filament(rather than on the glass enclosure of the bulb as Rolandhad suggested) and that the light is created after that Inthis short discussion the participants use the term heatpartly in a colloquial sense (the filament lsquolsquoheats uprsquorsquointerchangeable with lsquolsquowarms uprsquorsquo) and partly in a senseequivalent to what physicists call thermal energy (lsquolsquoheat iscreated on the filamentrsquorsquo)

Pam Isnrsquot the heat created on the filamentTed Thatrsquos what Irsquom Irsquom not sure Does the heat happen

at the same time as the light You know does thefilament heat up

Multiple speakers YesPam The filament heats up first and then there is lightTed Boom concurrentlyDrew This has already been warmed up This is steady

stateKelli Itrsquos already been warmed up but hersquos talking about

the actual energy Is it turning into one and then theother

Leah Right

Ted initially reiterates that he is not sure about thetemporal sequencing asking if the heat and light happenat the same time During and after his question variousparticipants say lsquolsquoYesrsquorsquo one after the other but itrsquos not clearwhether they are responding to him or to Pam Drewrsquosreiteration that lsquolsquothis is steady statersquorsquo may be in response toeither Ted or Pam but in either case highlights an ambi-guity in Tedrsquos question Is Ted asking about the sequence ofphysical changes as a light bulb comes on or is he askingabout the sequence of energy processes when the light bulbis operating at a steady state Kelli seems to perceive thesame ambiguity and asserts that Ted is asking about thesequence of energy processes

VIDEO 2 Participants prepare to enact Energy Theater for anincandescent bulb burning steadily In this episode participantsdiscuss how a specific form of energy may be transformed intoanother form and what the limitations may be on such trans-formations


020105-12

The instructor for the course author Lane Seeley ispresent for this part of the conversation Lane has beenlistening without speaking for several minutes (since earlyin the episode analyzed in Sec V) Lane infers that Tedrsquosquestion is important to Ted partly because the temporalordering of the sequence of energy processes has implica-tions for an underlying chain of causality He answersTedrsquos question and answers in the language of causalitynot temporal ordering Leah Ted and Pam all appear toaccept Lanersquos statement as answering Tedrsquos question

Lane My model is that light that with incandescentbulbs the light the filament glows because it is hot

Leah RightTed So heat light[4 second pause]Pam Amen

Lane has made the first explicit statement of the mecha-nism of energy transformation in a light bulb lsquolsquoThe fila-ment glows because it is hotrsquorsquo This statement definesincandescence (in which bodies emit visible electromag-netic radiation as a result of their temperature) It alsoembeds the answer to the question the group has beenconsidering without telling them what to do in so manywords If the filament glows because it is hot then the lightis a result of the hotness and therefore happens later in theprocess of incandescence In other words in the filamentelectrical energy is transformed into what we would callthermal energy (what the group calls heat) and then thatthermal energy is transformed into light The learnersrsquorecognition of Lanersquos statement as an answer to Tedrsquosquestion suggests that at least some of the learners alreadyunderstood the question to have been implicitly aboutmechanism

In this episode Energy Theater fosters discussion ofcausal mechanism in physical processes which is a hall-mark of scientific reasoning [94107108] Thinking aboutcausal mechanism occurs by means of thinking about thesequence of energy processes that EnergyTheater explicitlyrepresents In incandescence the association betweensequence and causation is a productive one In other scenar-ios where the association is less clearly productive we stillsee learners identifying energy processes with causalmechanism For example when a car speeds up on a high-way the pavement plays an essential role in the physicalmechanism by which the car moves forward (it exerts aforce on the car) but a subtler role in the sequence of energyprocesses (does the chemical energy in the fuel pass throughthe pavement before becoming motion energy in the car)Our observation that many Energy Theater participantswant to track the energy through the pavement suggeststhat Energy Theater strongly supports the association ofenergy processes with causal mechanisms In other wordsEnergy Theater naturally pushes learners to construct notonly what is happening but also why it is happening

3 lsquolsquoWersquore not saying heat is turninginto light thatrsquos physically impossiblersquorsquo

Even though the heat causes light model is endorsed bythe instructor Toni objects to it Her objection offersinsight into what she understands by the terms heat andlight and lays out specific constraints that she believeslimit energy transformations

Toni I have a problem with the heat-to-light becauselightrsquos a higher energy state than heat

Roland Itrsquos going to light up firstTed The filamentrsquos going to heat up to emit lightPam But the heat is first You can tell when you turn a

light bulb offToni But wersquore not saying heat is turning into light

thatrsquos physically impossibleRoland Yeah The other wayPam Okay so some electrons turn to heat some turn into

lightToni You go to heat frac14Ted So you have to have heat energy and then you get

the lightToni frac14 or you go to light Yeah YeahTed And then the heat tran- we continue to create heat

and light and they transfer to the outsideToni Yep The heat doesnrsquot turn into light

Tonirsquos objection to Pam and Lanersquos model is a broadone she claims that lsquolsquolightrsquos a higher energy state thanheatrsquorsquo and that it is therefore lsquolsquophysically impossiblersquorsquo forheat energy to transform into light energy Toni suggeststhat the correct representation of incandescence will showsome electrical energy turning to heat (possibly first) andsome electrical energy to light but not show electricalenergy turning into heat that then turns into light Pambegins to make an argument that lsquolsquothe heat is firstrsquorsquo citingas evidence that lsquolsquoyou can tell when you turn a light bulboffrsquorsquo She may be referring to the fact that a bulb can bewarm though dark Another possibility is that Pam isreferring to an afterglow of a filament after the electricalswitch is turned off if the electrical energy is no longergetting to the filament but the filament is still glowing thenit must be the heat (thermal energy) of the filament that iscausing the glow Pam does not elaborate further in thismoment and the group makes an effort to adopt TonirsquossuggestionIn her statements Toni describes light and heat as being

energy states of which light is a higher one than heat Indescribing energy this way Toni makes use of a metaphorin which types of energy form an ordered set of verticallocations [3] Tonirsquos move is a departure from the EnergyTheater representation which uses a substance metaphorHowever Tonirsquos assertions are related to a canonicaldisciplinary understanding of the energies involved inincandescence Suppose for the moment that by lsquolsquoheatenergyrsquorsquo she means something akin to lsquolsquothermal energyrsquorsquo


020105-13

an association that is plausible in the conversation so farMaterial substances can be warm to the touch (conductthermal energy) but do not glow visibly (emit visible lightenergy) below a temperature of about 800 K The conditionin which the filament is merely warm is a lower-temperature condition than the condition in which thefilament glows and since temperature in this context isassociated with energy perhaps it is reasonable to associatewarmness with a lower energy state than brightnessHowever the conclusion that Toni reachesmdashthat heat(thermal) energy cannot transform into light energymdashisinconsistent with the phenomenon of incandescence

4 lsquolsquoThe way we define light is wavelengthswith higher energyrsquorsquo

The instructor interrupts the grouprsquos efforts to ask Tonito elaborate on her assertions Tonirsquos response associateseach form of energy with a wavelength

Lane What do you mean thatrsquos physically impossibleIrsquove never heard that

Toni Heat energy the wavelength gaining energyPam But it builds upToni Because isnrsquot heat our dead endLane Um no I donrsquot think so Because I can get out an

infrared camera and I can look at all of you with aninfrared camera and I can actually see infraredwhich is another form of light coming from youand the reason I can see that is because yoursquorewarmer

Toni But the way we define light is wavelengths withhigher energy When we say light wersquore talking aboutvisible light Wersquore not talking about all of the elec-tromagnetic spectrum yeah And when we say heatwersquore actually talking about thermal energy itrsquoslower energy wavelength longer wavelength Tomy knowledge what takes that longer wavelengthis due to what The buildup of the electrons on thefilament

Lane So I donrsquot have a wavelengthmdashI donrsquot have a wayof associating a wavelength with the thermal energywhich is just the rattling around of the stuff in thiscase itrsquos tungsten thatrsquos just microscopic motion ofactual physical atoms

Toni But Irsquom saying when that energy is transferred tothe environment it doesnrsquot suddenly speed up so nowitrsquos visible to us That packet of energy

Pam I thought it didLane How did you see itToni Because thatrsquos a different packet of energyLeah That light energy comes from electricalToni Two separate packets of energy

Tonirsquos elaboration suggests at least two distinct possibleinterpretations of her statement that lsquolsquoheat cannot turn intolightrsquorsquo One possibility is that she is saying that thermal

energy is infrared light energy and cannot transform intovisible light energy This interpretation fits with her state-ment about lsquolsquothe wavelength gaining energyrsquorsquo and with thesense that examples of infrared light transforming intovisible light are uncommon Another possibility is thatToni is saying that thermal energy associated with mattercannot transform into visible light energy This secondinterpretation is suggested by Toni saying lsquolsquowhen thatenergy is transferred to the environment it doesnrsquot sud-denly speed up so now itrsquos visible to usrsquorsquo the speed of lightis greater than any speeds associated with the thermalmotion of matter in a light bulb filament Both of thesepossibilities are distinct from the model of incandescencethat might have been suggested by Tonirsquos earlier statements(Sec VI B 3) In any case Tonirsquos argument is influential inthe rest of this discussion this group of learners goes on toarticulate more details of the electron model

5 Learning through embodiment participationand the material setting

This episode shows further how Energy Theater pro-motes conceptual learning about energy through embodi-ment participation and the material setting Tedrsquos openingquestion about the time ordering of energy transforma-tions is a question that the group must answer in order toenact the sequence of energy transformations with theirbodies Kelli proposes a response in terms of human bodies(lsquolsquoI think we should do every other personrsquorsquo) The negotia-tion as to whether the bulb is heating up or burning steadilyis supported by the fact that in Energy Theater thesequence of physical events (eg the bulb getting warmerand warmer) is represented in a way that is distinct fromthe sequence of energy processes (eg the electrical en-ergy turning to heat and light) the former is representednot by bodily movements but by using different lsquolsquoactsrsquorsquo ofEnergy Theater (in the sense of the main divisions of atheatrical performance) Thus embodied action and thematerial structure of Energy Theater continue to shapethe discussion [116]The participation in this episode is notable in that learn-

ers engage in a complex and productive discussion ofmechanisms of energy transformation Their collectiveendeavor of sense making includes a complex sequenceof claims and counterclaims based in abstract principles(lsquolsquolightrsquos a higher energy state than heatrsquorsquo) direct experi-ence (lsquolsquoyou can tell when you turn a light bulb offrsquorsquo)microscopic models (lsquolsquodoesnrsquot suddenly speed up so nowitrsquos visiblersquorsquo) and presumed causal relationships (lsquolsquothefilamentrsquos going to heat up to emit lightrsquorsquo) Their argumen-tation persuasion and negotiation advance their construc-tion of energy models for incandescenceThe grouprsquos intellectual work in this episode is incom-

plete in some senses and flawed in others The electronmodel is not as accurate as the heat causes lightmodel (forincandescence the former might be more appropriate for


020105-14

fluorescence) They run out of time to decide between theirmodels They misuse the term heat in a variety of ways thatmay muddle their reasoning Tonirsquos peers may hesitate tocritique her logic in light of her loud and assertive toneOverall though we see the group as making a significantachievement in this episode They construct two distinctsophisticated and plausible models for energy dynamics ina glowing filament (the electronmodel and the heat causeslight model) Each of these models conserves and tracksenergy as it transfers among and transforms within therelevant objects in the system of interest

VII SUMMARY

We describe examples of a social embodied learningactivity called Energy Theater in use by secondary teach-ers learning physics in summer professional developmentcourses Energy Theater is designed to support learners inconserving energy as they track energy transfers andtransformations within into or out of the system ofinterest in complex physical scenarios Our analysis oftwo episodes in which participants model the energydynamics of an incandescent bulb provides a responseto our first research question While doing EnergyTheater for this specific scenario learner engagementwith key conceptual issues of energy includes (1) disam-biguation of matter and energy and (2) theorizing mecha-nisms of energy transformation We expect that otherscenarios would promote engagement with both theseand other conceptual issues We suggest that EnergyTheater and its associated representations [4] may providea generative basis for energy instruction for a variety ofdifferent learning populations

Our second research question concerns the processes bywhich Energy Theater causes learners to engage with thoseconceptual issues We identify causal processes by observ-ing specific sequences of events in enough detail to estab-lish a likely causal relationship between specific features ofEnergy Theater and the conceptual engagement that we seetake place In the episodes analyzed disambiguation ofmatter and energy appears to be promoted especially by the

material structure of the Energy Theater environmentsince energy is represented by participants while objectsare represented by areas demarcated by loops of ropelearners must distinguish the two in their Energy Theaterenactment Theorizing mechanisms of energy transforma-tion is supported especially by Energy Theaterrsquos embodiedaction this necessitates modeling the time ordering of thetransformations leading to discussions of the possiblecauses of different time orderings Broadly speaking weattribute the effectiveness of Energy Theater to the interac-tional affordances of learnersrsquo embodied collaborationswith one another in the material setting that EnergyTheater createsOur analysis has theoretical and methodological impli-

cations A participationist theory of learning in whichlearning is indicated by changes in speech and behaviorsupports ethnographic analysis of learnersrsquo embodied in-teraction with each other and the material setting (Thisapproach contrasts with theories in which learning isknowledge acquisition measured by comparison of knowl-edge states at two points in time) We suggest that theselearning theories and analytic methods are useful for exam-ining the learning activities that we create and sustain inphysics classrooms

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge all the elementary andsecondary teachers who have participated in EnergyProject courses for their generosity in making their ownand their studentsrsquo reasoning accessible to the EnergyProject team We are indebted to all the members of thePhysics Education Research Group at Seattle PacificUniversity especially Lezlie S DeWater Abigail RDaane and Kara Gray for ongoing development andcritical feedback We also thank the national communityof Energy Project collaborators for their engagement withour work particularly Leslie J Atkins Benedikt Harrerand Jim Minstrell This material is based upon work sup-ported by the National Science Foundation under GrantsNo 0822342 and No 0962805

[1] P A Kraus and S Vokos The role of language in theteaching of energy The case of heat energy WashingtonState Teach Assoc J (2011) httpwwwspuedudeptsphysicsdocumentsWSTA_KrausVokospdf

[2] BW Dreyfus E F Redish and JW Watkins Studentsrsquoviews of macroscopic and microscopic energy in physicsand biology AIP Conf Proc 1413 179 (2012)

[3] R E Scherr HG Close S B McKagan and S VokosRepresenting energy I Representing a substance ontologyfor energy Phys Rev ST Phys Educ Res 8 020114(2012)

[4] R E Scherr HG Close EW Close and S VokosRepresenting energy II Energy tracking representationsPhys Rev ST Phys Educ Res 8 020115 (2012)

[5] H G Close L S DeWater EW Close R E Scherr andS B McKagan Using The Algebra Project method toregiment discourse in an energy course for teachers AIPConf Proc 1289 9 (2010)

[6] EW Close R E Scherr HG Close and S B McKaganDevelopment of proximal formative assessment skills invideo-based teacher professional development AIP ConfProc 1413 19 (2012)


020105-15

[7] H G Close and R E Scherr Differentiation of energyconcepts through speech and gesture in interaction AIPConf Proc 1413 151 (2012)

[8] S B McKagan R E Scherr EW Close and HG CloseCriteria for creating and categorizing forms of energy AIPConf Proc 1413 279 (2012)

[9] BW Harrer R E Scherr M C Wittmann HG Closeand BW Frank Elements of formative assessment inlearnersrsquo discourse about energy AIP Conf Proc 1413203 (2012)

[10] A R Daane S Vokos and R E Scherr Conservingenergy in physics and society Creating an integratedmodel of energy and the second law of thermodynamicsAIP Conf Proc 1513 114 (2013)

[11] L C McDermott and L S DeWater The need for specialscience courses for teachers Two perspectives inInquiring into Inquiry Learning and Teaching inScience edited by J Minstrell and E van Zee (AAASWashington DC 2000) httpwwwaaasorgprogramseducationabout_ehrpubsinquiryshtml

[12] P S Shaffer and L C McDermott A research-based ap-proach to improving student understanding of the vectornature of kinematical concepts Am J Phys 73 921(2005)

[13] L C McDermott P S Shaffer and C P ConstantinouPreparing teachers to teach physics and physical scienceby inquiry Phys Educ 35 411 (2000)

[14] For our view of the analogy between energy and moneysee Ref [4]

[15] R E Scherr A R Daane and S Vokos Learner under-standing of mechanisms of energy transfer in complexphysical processes (unpublished)

[16] S B McKagan et al Energy forms as dynamic tools forunderstanding complex real-world scenarios (unpub-lished)

[17] E Brewe Energy as a substancelike quantity that flowsTheoretical considerations and pedagogical consequencesPhys Rev ST Phys Educ Res 7 020106 (2011)

[18] R Duit Should energy be illustrated as something quasi-material Int J Sci Educ 9 139 (1987)

[19] G Swackhamer Cognitive resources for understandingenergy (unpublished) httpmodelingasuedumodelingCognitiveResources-Energypdf

[20] R Millar Teaching about energy Department ofEducational Studies Research Paper York University2005 httpwwwyorkacukmediaeducationalstudiesdocumentsresearchPaper11Teachingaboutenergypdf

[21] A diSessa Ontologies in pieces Response to Chi andSlotta Cognit Instr 10 272 (1993) httpwwwjstororgstable3233731

[22] G Falk F Herrmann and G Bruno Schmid Energy formsor energy carriers Am J Phys 51 1074 (1983)

[23] TG Amin Conceptual metaphor meets conceptualchange Hum Dev 52 165 (2009)

[24] The description of energy as being located in objects canbe a concern for gravitational and other forms of potentialenergy which are properly located in a system of objectsor in a field rather than in individual objects In ourinstructional contexts we allow learners to locate suchforms of energy either in isolated objects in systems ofobjects or in fields as is appropriate to the level and

learning goals of the course This approach allows foriterative negotiation and refinement of the meaning ofsystems an important learning goal in the study ofenergy Alternatively learners may identify a field asa new kind of (nonmaterial) object that can containenergy

[25] J Streeck C Goodwin and C LeBaron Embodied in-teraction in the material world An introduction inEmbodied Interaction edited by J Streeck C Goodwinand C LeBaron (Cambridge University Press New York2011) pp 1ndash28

[26] C Goodwin Action and embodiment within situatedhuman interaction J Pragmatics 32 1489 (2000)

[27] R Stevens The missing bodies of mathematical thinkingand learning have been found J Learn Sci 21 337(2012)

[28] E Hutchins and S Nomura Collaborative construction ofmultimodal utterances in Embodied Interaction edited byJ Streeck C Goodwin and C LeBaron (CambridgeUniversity Press New York 2011)

[29] T Koschmann and C LeBaron Learner articulation asinteractional achievement Studying the conversation ofgesture Cognit Instr 20 249 (2002)

[30] E Hutchins and L Palen Constructing meaning fromspace gesture and speech in Discourse Tools andReasoning Situated Cognition and TechnologicallySupported Environments edited by L B Resnick et al(Springer Verlag Heidelberg 1997)

[31] G Lakoff and M Johnson Philosophy in the Flesh TheEmbodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought(Basic Books New York 1999)

[32] G Lakoff and R E Nunez Where Mathematics Comesfrom How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics intoBeing (Basic Books New York 2000)

[33] R Nunez L D Edwards and J F Matos Embodiedcognition as grounding for situatedness and contextin mathematics education Educ Stud Math 39 45(1999)

[34] M Singer J Radinsky and S R Goldman The role ofgesture in meaning construction Discourse Process 45365 (2008)

[35] S C Broaders SW Cook Z Mitchell and S Goldin-Meadow Making children gesture brings out implicitknowledge and leads to learning J Exp Psychol Gen136 539 (2007)

[36] SW Cook and S Goldin-Meadow The role of gesture inlearning Do children use their hands to change theirminds J Cognit Dev 7 211 (2006)

[37] SW Cook Z Mitchell and S Goldin-MeadowGesturing makes learning last Cognition 106 1047(2008)

[38] L D Edwards Gestures and conceptual integrationin mathematical talk Educ Stud Math 70 127(2009)

[39] K A Kastens S Agrawal and L S Liben Researchmethodologies in science education The role of gesturesin geoscience teaching and learning J Geosci Educ 56362 (2008)

[40] M Kim W-M Roth and J Thom Childrenrsquos gesturesand the embodied knowledge of geometry Int J SciMath Educ 9 207 (2011)


020105-16

[41] L Radford Why do gestures matter Sensuous cognitionand the palpability of mathematical meanings Educ StudMath 70 111 (2009)

[42] W-M Roth and DV Lawless When up is down anddown is up Body orientation proximity and gestures asresources Lang Soc 31 1 (2002)

[43] W-M Roth and M Welzel From activity to gesturesand scientific language J Res Sci Teach 38 103(2001)

[44] R Nemirovsky and F Ferrera Mathematical imaginationand embodied cognition Educ Stud Math 70 159(2009)

[45] EM Crowder Gestures at work in sense-making sciencetalk J Learn Sci 5 173 (1996)

[46] R Nemirovsky C Rasmussen G Sweeney and MWawro When the classroom floor becomes the complexplane Addition and multiplication as ways of bodilynavigation J Learn Sci 21 287 (2012)

[47] W-M Roth and DV Lawless Scientific investigationsmetaphorical gestures and the emergence of abstractscientific concepts Learn Instr 12 285 (2002)

[48] R E Scherr Gesture analysis for physics education re-searchers Phys Rev ST Phys Educ Res 4 010101(2008)

[49] A Touval and G Westreich Teaching sums of anglemeasures A kinesthetic approach Math Teach 96 230(2003)

[50] PM Ross DA Tronson and R J Ritchie Increasingconceptual understanding of glycolysis and the Krebscycle using role play Am Biol Teach 70 163(2008)

[51] V Singh The Electron Runaround Understanding electriccircuit basics through a classroom activity Phys Teach48 309 (2010)

[52] C A Manogue P J Siemens J Tate K BrowneM L Niess and A J Wolfer Paradigms in Physics Anew upper-division curriculum Am J Phys 69 978(2001)

[53] C A Morrow Kinesthetic Astronomy The sky time les-son Phys Teach 38 252 (2000)

[54] E L Reinfeld and MA Hartman Kinesthetic life cycleof stars Astron Educ Rev 7 158 (2008)

[55] T Richards Using kinesthetic activities to teachPtolemaic and Copernican retrograde motion Sci Educ21 899 (2012)

[56] A Begel DD Garcia and S Wolfman Kinestheticlearning in the classroom SIGCSE Bull 36 183 (2004)

[57] V Colella Participatory simulations Building collabora-tive understanding through immersive dynamic modelingJ Learn Sci 9 471 (2000)

[58] M Resnick and U Wilensky Diving into complexityDeveloping probabilistic decentralized thinkingthrough role-playing activities J Learn Sci 7 153(1998)

[59] J P Chinnicci JW Yue and KM Torres Students aslsquolsquohuman chromosomesrsquorsquo in role-playing mitosis and meio-sis Am Biol Teach 66 35 (2004)

[60] MA Wyn and S J Stegink Role-playing mitosis AmBiol Teach 62 378 (2000)

[61] V Zimmerman Moving poems Kinesthetic learning inthe literature classroom Pedagogy 2 409 (2002)

[62] H G Close and P R L Heron Student understanding ofthe angular momentum of classical particles Am J Phys79 1068 (2011)

[63] H Pfister and P Laws Kinesthesia-1 Apparatus to expe-rience 1-D motion Phys Teach 33 214 (1995)

[64] P Pantidos and S Patapis Kinesthetic transverse wavedemonstration Phys Teach 43 344 (2005)

[65] J Lave Situating learning in communities of practice inPerspectives on Socially Shared Cognition edited by L BResnick JM Levine and S D Teasley (AmericanPsychological Association Washington DC 1991)pp 63ndash82

[66] A Sfard On two metaphors for learning and the dangersof choosing just one Educ Res 27 4 (1998)

[67] A Sfard When the rules of discourse change but nobodytells you Making sense of mathematics learning froma commognitive standpoint J Learn Sci 16 565(2007)

[68] L S Vygotsky The development of scientific concepts inchildhood The design of a working hypothesis inThought and Language edited by A Kozulin(Massachusetts Institiute of Technology Boston 1986)

[69] J V Wertsch Mediation in The Cambridge Companion toVygotsky edited by H Daniels M Cole and J V Wertsch(Cambridge University Press New York 2007)

[70] A Kendon Conducting interaction Patterns of behaviorin focused encounters Studies in InteractionalSociolinguistics (Cambridge University Press New York1990) Vol 7

[71] B Jordan and A Henderson Interaction analysisFoundations and practice J Learn Sci 4 39 (1995)

[72] R D Pea Seeing what we build together Distributedmultimedia learning environments for transformativecommunications J Learn Sci 3 285 (1994)

[73] T Rodden et al Designing novel interactional workspa-ces to support face to face consultations in Proceedings ofthe Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsndashCHI rsquo03 (ACM Press Chicago 2003)

[74] R Stevens Divisions of labor in school and in theworkplace Comparing computer and paper-supportedactivities across settings J Learn Sci 9 373 (2000)

[75] E Hutchins How a cockpit remembers its speeds CognSci 19 265 (1995)

[76] F Erickson Talk and Social Theory Ecologies ofSpeaking and Listening in Everyday Life (Polity PressMalden MA 2004)

[77] R P Mcdermott K Gospodinoff and J Aron Criteriafor an ethnographically adequate description of con-certed activities and their contexts Semiotica 24 245(1978)

[78] E Schegloff Whose text Whose context DiscourseSoc 8 165 (1997)

[79] F Erickson Qualitative methods in research onteaching in Handbook of Research on Teachingedited by M C Wittrock (Macmillan New York 1986)pp 119ndash161

[80] N K Denzin and Y S Lincoln Introduction The disci-pline and practice of qualitative research in The SageHandbook of Qualitative Research edited by NK Denzinand Y S Lincoln (Sage Publications Thousand Oaks CA2005)


020105-17

[81] C Goodwin Professional vision Am Anthropol 96 606(1994)

[82] KM Anderson-Levitt Ethnography in Handbook ofComplementary Methods in Education Research editedby J L Green et al (Lawrence Erlbaum AssociatesMahwah NJ 2006) pp 279ndash295

[83] R E Scherr and D Hammer Student behavior and epis-temological framing Examples from collaborative active-learning activities in physics Cognit Instr 27 147(2009)

[84] P Hutchison and D Hammer Attending to student epis-temological framing in a science classroom Sci Educ 94506 (2010)

[85] D Tannen and C Wallat Interactive frames and knowl-edge schemas in interaction Examples from a medicalexaminationinterview in Framing in Discourse edited byD Tannen (Oxford University Press New York 1993)pp 57ndash76

[86] G L MacLachlan and I Reid Framing and Interpretation(Melbourne University Press Carlton Victoria Australia1994)

[87] D Hammer et al Resources framing and transfer inTransfer of Learning Research and Perspectives editedby J Mestre (Information Age Publishing Greenwich CT2005) pp 89ndash120

[88] E Goffman Frame Analysis An Essay on theOrganization of Experience (Northeastern UniversityPress Boston 1986)

[89] W C Salmon Causality and Explanation (OxfordUniversity Press New York 1998)

[90] J A Maxwell Using qualitative methods for causalexplanation Field Meth 16 243 (2004)

[91] J A Maxwell Causal explanation qualitative researchand scientific inquiry in education Educ Res 33 3(2004)

[92] BW Frank and R E Scherr Interactional processes forstabilizing conceptual coherences in physics Phys RevST Phys Educ Res 8 020101 (2012)

[93] R E Scherr and E F Redish Newtonrsquos zeroth lawLearning from listening to our students Phys Teach 4341 (2005)

[94] National Research Council A Framework for K-12Science Education Practices Crosscutting Conceptsand Core Ideas (National Academies Press WashingtonDC 2012)

[95] M E Loverude Do students conceptualize energy as amaterial substance in Physics Education ResearchConference Boise Idaho 2002 edited by SV FranklinK Cummings and J Marx httpwwwcompadreorgRepositorydocumentServeFilecfmID=4325ampDocID=1140

[96] American Academy for the Advancement of ScienceBenchmarks for Science Literacy (Oxford UniversityPress New York 1993)

[97] The role of the Poynting vector in energy transfer in a realelectric circuit is not among the learning objectives at theprecollege level See Refs [103104]

[98] EW Close H G Close S B McKagan and R EScherr Energy in action The construction of physicsideas in multiple modes AIP Conf Proc 1289 105(2010)

[99] L C McDermott and P S Shaffer Research as a guide forcurriculum development An example from introductoryelectricity Part I Investigation of student understandingAm J Phys 60 994 (1992)

[100] DM Shipstone A study of childrenrsquos understanding ofelectricity in simple DC circuits Eur J Sci Educ 6 185(1984)

[101] M T H Chi J D Slotta and N De Leeuw From thingsto processes A theory of conceptual change for learningscience concepts Learn Instr 4 27 (1994)

[102] R Osborne Towards modifying childrenrsquos ideas aboutelectric current Res Sci Technol Educ 1 73 (1983)

[103] B S Davis and L Kaplan Poynting vector flow in acircular circuit Am J Phys 79 1155 (2011)

[104] I Galili and E Goihbarg Energy transfer in electricalcircuits A qualitative account Am J Phys 73 141 (2005)

[105] R Chabay and B Sherwood Restructuring the introduc-tory electricity and magnetism course Am J Phys 74329 (2006)

[106] E Ochs P Gonzales and S Jacoby lsquolsquoWhen I come downIrsquom in the domain statersquorsquo Grammar and graphic represen-tation in the interpretive activity of physicists inInteraction and Grammar edited by E Ochs ESchegloff and S Thompson (Cambridge UniversityPress Cambridge 1996) pp 328ndash369

[107] R S Russ J E Coffey D Hammer and P HutchisonMaking classroom assessment more accountable to scien-tific reasoning A case for attending to mechanistic think-ing Sci Educ 93 875 (2009)

[108] R S Russ R E Scherr D Hammer and J MikeskaRecognizing mechanistic reasoning in scientific inquiryA framework for discourse analysis developed fromphilosophy of science Sci Educ 92 499 (2008)

[109] D Hammer and E van Zee Seeing the Science inChildrenrsquos Thinking Case Studies of Student Inquiry inPhysical Science (Heinemann Portsmouth NH 2006)

[110] DM Levin et al Becoming a Responsive ScienceTeacher Focusing on Student Thinking in SecondaryScience (National Science Teachers Association PressArlington VA 2013)

[111] R P Feynman R B Leighton and M Sands TheFeynman Lectures on Physics (Addison-WesleyReading MA 1969)

[112] National Research Council National Science EducationStandards (National Academy Press Washington DC1996)

[113] WH Kaper and M J Goedhart lsquolsquoForms of energyrsquorsquo anintermediary language on the road to thermodynamicsPart I Int J Sci Educ 24 81 (2002)

[114] Mechanisms for both transfer and transformation are in-cluded in the representation we call Energy TrackingDiagrams a static graphic representation of energy pro-cesses derived from Energy Theater [4]

[115] M Wiser and S Carey When heat and temperature wereone inMental Models edited by D Genter and A Stevens(Erlbaum Hillsdale NJ 1983) pp 267ndash297

[116] Energy Tracking Diagrams may support similar reasoning[4] Though these static graphical representations lack theembodied action that is afforded by Energy Theater theyrefer to Energy Theaterrsquos embodied action and thus mayshare some of the same affordances


020105-18

(iv) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is con-verted from one form to another such as incandescenceand metabolism Finally we hope for learners to be able tooptimize systems to maximize some energy transfers andtransformations and minimize others subject to constraintsbased in both imputed mechanism (eg objects must havemotion energy in order for gravitational energy to change)and the second law of thermodynamics (eg heating isirreversible) We hypothesize that a subsequent goal ofenergy learningmdashinnovating to meet socially relevantneedsmdashdepends crucially on the extent to which thesegoals have been met

In order to better illustrate the high aspiration that thesegoals represent we offer an analogy from economics [14]What would it mean for someone to be able to track thetransfers and transformations of assets within into or outof systems of interest in the American economy Whatwould one need to know in order to optimize the effect ofthe Federal Reserversquos quantitative easing on unemploy-ment bond prices or interest rates Aphorisms such aslsquolsquoa rising tide lifts all boatsrsquorsquo or lsquolsquoenergy is conservedrsquorsquo arenot sufficient to enable rigorous analysis Learners need thetools to hypothesize through what means in what temporalorder and with what observable evidence energy flowsdynamically in a specific real-world situation

We describe a learning activity called Energy Theaterthat is designed to promote conceptual understanding ofenergy Our research addresses the following questions



We provide evidence that Energy Theater supports dis-ambiguating energy and matter [goal (i) above] and theo-rizing mechanisms for energy transformation [goal (iv)above] [We expect to address (ii) and (iii) in future work[81516] ] We conduct detailed analysis to build plausiblecausal links between specific features of Energy Theaterand the conceptual engagement that we observe in whichlearners collaboratively negotiate meaning in a materiallystructured environment

II ENERGY THEATER

We structure our energy instruction around a substancemetaphor for energy which supports a model of energy asconserved localized transferring among objects and trans-forming among forms [34] These features constitute apowerful conceptual model of energy that may be used toexplain and predict energy phenomena [17ndash22] Though thismetaphor has limitations [1823] its benefits for our specificinstructional goals outweigh its possible disadvantages [3]

Energy Theater is a learning activity that is based on asubstance metaphor for energy [4] In Energy Theater eachparticipant identifies as a unit of energy that has one and onlyone form at any given timeGroups of learnerswork together

to represent the energy transfers and transformations in aspecific physical scenariomdashfor example a refrigerator cool-ing food or a light bulb burning steadily Participants choosewhich forms of energy andwhich objects in the scenariowillbe representedObjects in the scenario correspond to regionson the floor As energy moves and changes form in thescenario participantsmove to different locations on the floorand change their represented form The rules of EnergyTheater are as follows Each person is a unit of energy in the scenario Regions on the floor correspond to objects in the

scenario Each person has one form of energy at a time Each person indicates their form of energy in some

way often with a hand sign People move from one region to another as energy is

transferred and change hand sign as energy changesform

The number of people in a region or making a par-ticular hand sign corresponds to the quantity of energyin a certain object or of a particular form respectively

Energy Theater represents energy as being conservedemplaced and changing form it explicitly shows energy asbeing located in objects [24] flowing among objectsand accumulating in objects and it is a dynamic represen-tation able to show processes as they unfold as well aslsquolsquosnapshotsrsquorsquo of energy at specific instants These are thefeatures of an energy model that promote detailed trackingof energy transfers and transformations in complex real-world processes [34] Learners work together to negotiatethis representation of the energy dynamics in a particularscenario with an end goal of enacting the representation ina final performance for their peersThis paper presents a specific enactment of Energy

Theater in which a particular group of learners modelsenergy transfers and transformations for a specific physicalscenario an incandescent light bulb burning steadilyRoughly speaking electrical energy flows from the baseof the light bulb into the filament where some transformsinto thermal energy via the dissipative process of Jouleheating Some of the thermal energy in the filament trans-forms to light energy that travels outward to the surround-ings (incandescence) Thus while the electric current flowsin a closed loop around the circuit some of the energyflows out into the environmentAn Energy Theater analysis prompts learners to make

decisions such as whether to subdivide the relevant objects(eg into what part of the bulb does energy flow Whereexactly is the electrical energy transformed into thermalenergy) and how to accurately represent the time order ofenergy transfers and transformations (eg are thermalenergy and light energy generated simultaneously or isone generated first) Comparable decisions might bemade by students constructing free-body diagrams thoughin many instructional contexts students have such deci-sions made for them In our instructional environment


020105-2














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B Methodology













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Toni Some of it


















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020105-9
















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Leah Right




020105-12


















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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









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B Methodology













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Toni Some of it


















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Leah Right




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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









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B Methodology













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Toni Some of it


















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Leah Right




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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









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B Methodology













020105-5














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Toni Some of it


















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Leah Right




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020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









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Toni Some of it


















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Leah Right




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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































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020105-7





Toni Some of it


















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020105-9
















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020105-11















Leah Right




020105-12


















020105-13


















020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































020105-17






































020105-18





Toni Some of it


















020105-8













020105-9
















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020105-11















Leah Right




020105-12


















020105-13


















020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































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020105-9
















020105-10













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Leah Right




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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































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020105-18
















020105-10













020105-11















Leah Right




020105-12


















020105-13


















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VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































020105-17






































020105-18













020105-11















Leah Right




020105-12


















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020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































020105-17






































020105-18















Leah Right




020105-12


















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020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































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020105-18


















020105-13


















020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































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020105-18


















020105-14


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































020105-16










































020105-17






































020105-18


VII SUMMARY





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS









020105-15





































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020105-18

negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a … · 2013. 8. 22. · negotiating energy...

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