Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4, 010101 (2008) [9 pages]

Gesture analysis for physics education researchers

Abstract

References

Citing Articles (3)

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Rachel E. Scherr
Physics Education Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742 USA

Received 26 February 2007; published 25 January 2008

Systematic observations of student gestures can not only fill in gaps in students’ verbal expressions, but can also offer valuable information about student ideas, including their source, their novelty to the speaker, and their construction in real time. This paper provides a review of the research in gesture analysis that is most relevant to physics education researchers and illustrates gesture analysis for the purpose of better understanding student thinking about physics.

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.010101
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.010101
PACS: 01.40.Fk

Supplemental Material


Video 1 [ MPEG (14284 kB) ]
Students try to draw the velocity vectors at various points along the trajectory of an object in projectile motion.
Video 1a [ QuickTime (199 kB) ]
	"zero length"
Video 1b [ QuickTime (278 kB) ]
	"two different directions."
Video 1c [ QuickTime (193 kB) ]
	"vectors."
Video 1d [ QuickTime (349 kB) ]
	"It's not increasing its...height."
Video 1e [ QuickTime (336 kB) ]
	The half parabola gesture.
Video 2 [ QuickTime (14500 kB) ]
Students try to reconcile Newton's third law with the common-sense intuition that the force by the truck would be larger.
Video 2a [ QuickTime (355 kB) ]
	"we think."
Video 2b [ QuickTime (784 kB) ]
	"move backwards."
Video 2c [ QuickTime (669 kB) ]
	"equal and opposite forces."
Video 2d [ QuickTime (164 kB) ]
	"the truck."
Video 2e [ QuickTime (760 kB) ]
	"saw it."
Video 2f [ QuickTime (485 kB) ]
	"hit the car."
Video 2g [ QuickTime (405 kB) ]
	"go backwards."
Video 2h [ QuickTime (598 kB) ]
	"same force."
Video 3 [ QuickTime (37339 kB) ]
Students explain their initial idea about Newton's third law to a teaching assistant.
Video 3a [ QuickTime (876 kB) ]
	"same force."
Video 3b [ QuickTime (515 kB) ]
	"move backwards."
Video 4 [ QuickTime (10297 kB) ]
Students continue to wrestle with the apparent contradiction between Newton's third law and common sense.
Video 4a [ QuickTime (699 kB) ]
	"I wonder if that truck felt the same."
Video 4b [ QuickTime (779 kB) ]
	"the person in the truck feels the same thing."
Video 4c [ QuickTime (438 kB) ]
	"feels the same force."