Coordinator: Dean's Office
Instructor(s): Dr. Narendra Deshmukh and Dr. Kalpana Kharade
Coordinator: Dean's Office
Instructor(s): Dr. Mayuri Rege and Prof. Arnab Bhattacharya
11Tue
Coordinator: Dean's Office
PhD Thesis Seminar - Zoom Meeting Link:
https://hbcse-tifr-res-in.zoom.us/j/94325658885?pwd=VlfBqkMaWX15aNiA4jMXVStU7TzwVx.1
Meeting ID: 943 2565 8885
Passcode: 190362
Candidate Name: Mr. Joseph Salve
Ph.D. Thesis Title:
Performative Bundles: How teacher narratives reconfigure academic language, to help students build mental models
Abstract:
This thesis explores how teachers construct dynamic mechanism models in students' minds, a complex process often hampered by the abstract nature of academic language (AL). Through the three studies, the research, examines the role of teachers in bridging the gap between abstract scientific concepts and students' concrete experiences.
The first study analyses teacher narratives, to reveal the challenges posed by AL, particularly nominalization. This study proposes the "Performative Bundle" (PB) as a theoretical construct, integrating several enactive strategies teachers employ to connect abstract mechanism models with students' dynamic experiences.
The second study extends the PB model to physics, examining how teachers build mechanism models (equations). It makes use of an interactive system that builds on the "loading of reality" and the concreteness fading view. Study findings suggest that this system can help students internalize the 5-step sequence used in physics model-building.
The third study makes use of a divided attention task to investigate the connection between the grammatical structure of a text passage (e.g., increased nominalization) and students' attention to local and global features. The findings suggest that changes in linguistic structure, particularly nominalization, can influence how students mentally simulate scientific concepts.
Employing a case study methodology, this research integrates both qualitative data (interviews, classroom observations) and quantitative data (task performance, reaction times). The data are analysed using Embodied Simulation Theory of Language, Distributed Cognition, and concreteness fading. The thesis concludes with theoretical and pedagogical implications of the PB model and study limitations.