The colloquial ambiguity of the words short and long in a worksheet question sustains the intuition that less distance implies less time¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The worksheet question's phrasing emphasizes distance features, and the everyday flexibility of short and long for both distance and time supports the intuition that less distance implies less time. → Frank 2012

Evidence¶

Frank 2012¶

Frank, B. W., and Scherr, R. E. (2012). Interactional processes for stabilizing conceptual coherences in physics. Submitted to PRST-PER. https://journals.aps.org/prper/ doi:10.1103/physrevstper.8.020101

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Discourse analysis of the tutorial transcript in Section 4.A.1. The authors analyze how the worksheet question's parallel phrasing draws attention to short and long, and how "The colloquial ambiguity of the word “short” supports the intuition that less distance (“shorter”) implies less time (“shorter”)."

"The colloquial ambiguity of the word “short” supports the intuition that less distance (“shorter”) implies less time (“shorter”). In response to the worksheet question, Beth states, “Obviously, it takes less time to generate the more closely spaced dots.”"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Contextual micro-features (worksheet wording, salient length differences, matching part-whole structure) support persistence of the less-distance-implies-less-time intuition — a broader claim this one bears on
• A network of three mutually overlapping intuitive ideas (less distance implies less time, bunched up means faster, faster implies less time) stabilizes students' initial thinking — related
• Students' collective understanding during a physics tutorial alternates repeatedly between two distinct interpretations of tickertape distance rather than changing once — related
• The physical stability of material artifacts such as stacked tickertape strips and worksheets stabilizes students' attention, action, and knowledge use — related
• Coordinating attention between whole-strip length and dot spacing does not disrupt and may stabilize the idea that shorter strips take less time — related
• Material arrangement of artifacts (strips centered and ordered by length, worksheets held close) affords and stabilizes the initial pattern of activity; later decentralization enables new patterns — related