Embodied Simulations of Forces of Nature and the Role of Energy in Physical Systems

Autor: Hans U. Fuchs, Angelika Pahl, Federico Corni
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Education Sciences; Volume 11; Issue 12; Pages: 759
Education Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 759, p 759 (2021)
ISSN: 2227-7102
DOI: 10.3390/educsci11120759
Popis: We experience (perceive, act upon and react to, and conceptualize) dynamical processes in nature as agentive. Expressed differently, we experience events as resulting from activities and interactions of Forces of Nature (such as wind, light, heat, fluids, electricity, substances, and motion) that are conceived of as powerful agents acting and interacting in physical environments. An example would be sunlight creating heat in the Earth’s surface layers, and this heat using the atmosphere as a heat engine whose output are the winds on our planet. In the physics of dynamical systems, these forces are characterized in terms of intensive and extensive quantities (i.e., electric potential and electric charge in the case of electricity). The aspect of power is formalized with the help of a generalized energy principle and the rules relating power/energy to intensive and extensive physical quantities. Concrete processes depend upon properties of physical materials (in and through which forces are active) such as (thermal, electrical, etc.) capacity or conductivity. In this paper, we demonstrate how we can create Embodied Simulations and Forces-of-Nature Theater performances, where children act as forces such as water, heat, electricity, and motion. The embodied logic of the physical play teaches children about the logic of our explanations of physical processes.
Databáze: OpenAIRE