Representing motion: An experiment in learning

In this paper we concentrate on how students make sense of motion. To understand the challenges the students actually faced, we focus on how learners work with models, representations, and their personal experience. The student subjects are participants in the Kenilworth l ongitudinal study by the third author. They work on a task, based on a set of 24 time-lapse photographs, to determine how a cat was moving as it progressed from walking to running. We document how learners work with a wide range of graphic presentations, including inscriptions, calculator-generated plots, drawings, and photographs. Analysis centers on how students reason, based on these representations, to make sense of the cat's motion.