Physically Distributed Learning: Adapting and Reinterpreting Physical Environments in the Development of Fraction Concepts
Martin, Taylor; Schwartz, Daniel L.
2005
Abstract
Five studies examined how interacting with the physical environment can support the development of fraction concepts. Nine- and 10-year-old children worked on fraction problems they could not complete mentally. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that manipulating physical pieces facilitated children's ability to develop an interpretation of fractions. Experiment 3 demonstrated that when children understood a content area well, they used their interpretations to repurpose many environments to support problem solving, whereas when they needed to learn, they were prone to the structure of the environment. Experiments 4 and 5 examined transfer after children had learned by manipulating physical pieces. Children who learned by adapting relatively unstructured environments transferred to new materials better than children who learned with "well-structured" environments that did not require equivalent adaptation. Together, the findings reveal that during physically distributed learning, the opportunity to adapt an environment permits the development of new interpretations that can advance learning.
Keywords
Concepts
Citation
Martin, T, Schwartz, D L (2005). Physically distributed learning: Adapting and reinterpreting physical environments in the development of fraction concepts. Cognitive Science, 29(4), 587--625. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_15
Metadata
- Source
- Cognitive Science
- Domain
- Physical Sciences
- Field
- Mathematics
- Subfield
- Statistics and Probability
- Topic
- Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Open access
- Open Access
- Citation count
- 288
- Work ID
- W2168890948