PER Seminar
A robust theory of physical intuition: from instructional design to tracking learning
Speaker: Andy diSessa (University of California, Berkeley)
Date: Wednesday 17 November 2021
Time: 16:00
Venue: Zoom
Over several decades of work, I and colleagues have developed a theory of intuitive knowledge and used it extensively in learning and instruction. I’ll begin with a brief history of this work, setting it in the wider field of conceptual change research. Then, in the main body of the talk, I’ll review some of the more recent work that has extended and refined the original theory, and shown fine-grained application to real-world student learning. I’ll present a case study of the theory’s use in designing instruction on thermal equilibration, and in tracking the results in a classroom, moment-by-moment. Finally, I’ll circle back to the broader landscape of conceptual change research, marking specific contrasts with other views on conceptual change, and the problems our data makes for them.