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Emergence, flexibility, and stabilization of language in a physics classroom
Author(s) -
Roth WolffMichael,
Duit Reinders
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.10114
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , german , phenomenon , mathematics education , science education , teaching method , sociology , epistemology , linguistics , psychology , mathematics , philosophy , statistics
Learning physics is a complex phenomenon. In this article, we use concepts from the theory of nonlinear systems to study the development of language in classroom science in an experimental unit on chaos theory in a German 10th‐grade physics classroom. In ongoing activity, the explanations students developed for phenomena emerged through interactive stabilization and material constraints on the interpretive flexibility of material (artifacts) and discursive representations (talk). Interpretive flexibility both enables novel understandings and differences between private and common public use of these representations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 869–897, 2003