Learning Across Sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices - Earli

For EARLI members only.
Not for onward distribution.
370 O. Lindwall and J. Ivarsson
Figure 22.1 Probeware. The pre- defined graph used in the task and a graph produced
by a student. When constructing the graph, the student changed the
direction instead of decreasing the velocity, which resulted in the anomaly
represented in the right part of the graph
In their attempts to replicate the graph, the students received direct feedback
from the screen in the form of a new graph corresponding to the students’ movements
plotted on top of the existing graph. Sometimes, the students stuck to their
initial interpretation despite discrepancies between the predefined graph and the
produced graph. Most of the time, however, students reacted to discrepancies
between the two graphs, either by changing the direction and speed or by aborting
the attempt to replicate the graph altogether. Once the students had constructed
a graph, they discussed similarities and dissimilarities between the two graphs and
decided whether to make a new attempt or to print out the current graph and
hand it in to the instructor.
Figure 22.2 illustrates the students’ fourth attempt to construct this particular
graph, which was the first velocity vs. time graph they had confronted. The episode
starts with Emily taking a step backwards while watching the graph being plotted on
the computer screen. She then stops and the graph drops to the x- axis, producing
an observable discrepancy between the pre- defined graph and the produced graph.