| This dissertation is a comparative study of the use of two symbol systems in physics instruction. The first, algebraic notation, plays an important role as the language in which physicists make precise and compact statements of physical laws and relations. Second, this research explores the use of programming languages in physics instruction. Central to this endeavor is the notion that programming languages can be elevated to the status of bona fide representational systems for physics.;I undertook the cognitive project of characterizing the knowledge that would result from each of these two instructional practices. To this end, I constructed a model of one aspect of the knowledge associated with symbol use in physics. This model included two major types of knowledge elements: (1) symbolic forms, which constitute a conceptual vocabulary in terms of which physics expressions are understood, and (2) representational devices, which function as a set of interpretive strategies. The model constitutes a partial theory of "meaningful symbol use" and how it affects conceptual development.;The empirical basis of this work is a data corpus consisting of two parts, one which contains videotapes of pairs of college students solving textbook physics problems using algebraic notation, and one in which college students program computer simulations of various motions. The videotapes in each half of the corpus were transcribed and analyzed in terms of the above model, and the resulting analyses compared. This involved listing the specific symbolic forms and representational devices employed by the students, as well as a measurement of the frequency of use of the various knowledge elements.;A conclusion of this work is that algebra-physics can be characterized as a physics of balance and equilibrium, and programming-physics a physics of processes and causation. More generally, this work provides a theoretical and empirical basis for understanding how the use of particular symbol systems affects students' conceptualization. |
