We present here a hypothetical learning trajectory designed to scaffold student acquisition of rich concept images for vector line integrals, a topic chosen due to its importance in upper-division physics.
Our learning trajectory is motivated by the use of representational transformation diagrams to compare standard textbook treatments of this topic in both mathematics and physics, which identifies two principal approaches, roughly correlated with these two disciplines.
These textbook approaches are compared to existing characterizations for
(single-variable) integration, which are generalized here to chop, multiply, add. We conclude with a discussion of possible implications for the teaching of single-variable calculus.
Tevian Dray's research lies at the interface between mathematics and physics, using differential geometry to study general relativity, nonassociative algebra to describe particle physics, and studying student understanding of "middle-division" mathematics and physics content.
Educated at MIT and Berkeley, he held postdoctoral positions in both mathematics and physics in Germany, the Netherlands, Princeton, England, and India prior to landing at Oregon State University in 1988, where he is now Professor Emeritus of Mathematics. Professor Dray is an award-winning teacher, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
We will serve refreshments, coffee and tea. Welcome!
The bi-weekly ODD seminar series at CCSE
The Open Discussions on Didactics (ODD) is a seminar series usually on Mondays at 13:00-14:00 every other week (odd week numbers) at CCSE.
The seminar will be maximum one hour, often closer to half an hour. It is an informal arena to present and discuss learning theory, educational research and teaching experiences within computational science. To cater to the highly heterogeneous backgrounds and interests of students, teachers and researchers in our environment, we aim for seminars that introduce listeners to new ideas within a broad spectrum of aspects, and that invites reflection and discussion.
Presentations need not be mature and polished - to the contrary we hope that as many as possible wants to share undigested observations and reflections in short presentations of varied form and topics. We hope to have enough contributions to frequently have the meetings as lightning talk sessions, where three different speakers will each give a 5-10-minute presentation followed by discussion.