Conference Session

Dynamics - Wow! They accelerate

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey L. Newcomer, Western Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

(p-prims)9-13 or facets of thinking14. These p-prims, or knowledge elements, aretriggered by context; while they may individually be correct in some circumstances, they may beapplied in the wrong circumstances or combined improperly to form incorrect conclusions. Ac-cording to this view, students do not need to have misconceptions unseated; instead they mustlearn which elements are correct in which contexts. These elements provide building blocks forreaching the desired mode of thinking. In this terminology, instead of misconceptions, studentsexhibit “specific difficulties”15 – some more commonly than others. In order to design effectiveinstructional material and techniques, one should take students’ specific difficulties into ac-count.16-17