In this paper, we present a theoretical framework based on Hestenes's discussion of modeling in physics and diSessa's early theories on creativity-based digital learning environments. We use this framework to formulate new understandings of how a pair of students work with an open-ended physics sandbox software, Algodoo, alongside a physical laboratory setup. Algodoo is a digital environment that makes it possible for students to create simple, two-dimensional models of physical phenomena. We identify Algodoo's role as that of a semi-formalism, whereby the students made use of the software in their process of modeling as a means of moving between the physical, experimental context and the formal, mathematical representations associated with that context. We propose a hypothesis to be tested in future research and suggest further avenues for exploration in relation to the proposed theoretical framework.

In this chapter, we use two case studies of high school and undergraduate students interacting with a two-dimensional sandbox modelling software, Algodoo, to show how physics students can make use of the mathematical representations offered by the software in unconventional yet meaningful ways. We show how affordances of the technology-supported learning environment allow the emergence of student creative engagement at the intersection of mathematics and physics. In terms of learning, the activities studied here are relevant in two central ways: (1) they open up alternative conceptual learning pathways for students by allowing them to access and engage with the content in original, self-directed and creative ways; (2) in doing this, the studied activities carry significant potential to motivate students and support their intrinsic interests.

In this paper, we present a case study of a pair of students as they use nondisciplinary communicative practices to mechanistically reason about binary star dynamics. To do so, we first review and bring together the theoretical perspectives of social semiotics and embodied cognition, therein developing a new methodological approach for analyzing student interactions during the learning of physics (particularly for those interactions involving students’ bodies). Through the use of our new approach, we are able to show how students combine a diverse range of meaning-making resources into complex, enacted analogies, thus forming explanatory models that are grounded in embodied intuition. We reflect on how meaning-making resources—even when not physically persistent—can act as coordinating hubs for other resources as well as how we might further nuance the academic conversation around the role of the body in physics learning.

In this paper, we examine the implementation of a digital learning environment—namely, the physics software, Algodoo—which is less-constrained in its design than the digital learning environments typically used in physics education. Through an analysis of a case study, we explore a teaching arrangement wherein physics teachers responsively guide small groups of students as they use less-constrained DLEs in a mostly self-directed manner. Our analysis leads to practical recommendations for physics teachers in terms of (1) how to glean useful information about students' existing physics knowledge through observation and (2) how to responsively intervene so as to productively guide students toward the learning of particular physics content. These recommendations stem from our use of the variation theory of learning as a lens for physics students' use of digital learning environments.

In this paper, we present three types of activity that we have observed during students’ free exploration of a software called Algodoo, which allows students to explore a range of physics phenomena within the same digital learning environment. We discuss how, by responding to any of the three activity types we identify in the students’ use of Algodoo, physics teachers can springboard into a range of relevant physics discussions while supporting and valuing student agency and divergent thinking. Thus, while one might not expect students’ undirected use of a digital tool such as Algodoo to be particularly worthwhile for the physics classroom, we highlight how students are never ‘far from the shore’ of a productive physics discussion.