Leveraging a relationship with biology to expand a relationship with physics

This work examines how experiences in one disciplinary domain (biology) can impact the relationship a student builds with another domain (physics). We present a model for disciplinary relationships using the constructs of identity, affect, and epistemology. With these constructs we examine an ethnographic case study of a student who experienced a significant shift in her relationship with physics. We describe how this shift demonstrates (i) a stronger identification with physics, (ii) a more mixed affective stance towards physics, and (iii) more expertlike ways of knowing in physics. We argue that recruiting the student’s relationship with biology into experiences of learning physics impacted her relationship with physics as well as her sense of how physics and biology are linked.

Figure 1

A disciplinary relationship conceptualized as interactions between affect, identity, and epistemology. The boundary line represents the extent that a single discipline is represented by these interactions.

Figure 2

A schematic of the various data streams collected. Time is represented along the horizontal axis and increases toward the right. The X’s on the timeline indicate days we collected data in that particular stream. Orange X’s represent data clips that are specifically analyzed in this paper.

Figure 3

A representation of Violet’s early relationship with physics as demonstrated by clips 1 and 2.

Figure 4

A representation of the cascade of events that unfold in clip 4 in terms of affect, identity, and epistemology.

Figure 5

Violet’s incoming relationship with physics is in contrast with her relationship with biology. The jagged arrows represent tensions between the two disciplinary relationships as we have conceptualized the construct.

Figure 6

A representation of the scientific reasoning moment Violet describes in Clip 7. The green circle outside of the relationship with physics indicates a developing epistemological stance that physics is relevant to biology knowledge.

Figure 7

Violet’s relationship with biology is depicted here in the ways that she describes it playing a role in her work in clip 7.

Figure 8

A representation of the cascading of events that occurs in clip 11 as it fits into understanding Violet’s relationship with biology and the developing epistemological stance of biology being relevant to solving problems in physics.

Figure 9

Violet’s outgoing relationships with physics and with biology. In this representation the overlapped orange and blue boxes indicate the relationships beginning to overlap. This is connected with the green epistemology bubble in the overlap, indicating an epistemological stance that physics and biology knowledge are related. Within each relationship box the affect, identity, and epistemology bubbles are linked.