Finding formulas: Does active search facilitate appropriate generalization?

Background One criterion of adaptive learning is appropriate generalization to new instances based on the original learning context and avoiding overgeneralization. Appropriate generalization requires understanding what features of a solution are applicable in a new context and whether the new context requires modifications or a new approach. In a series of three experiments, we investigate whether searching for an algebraic formalism before receiving direct instruction facilitates appropriate generalization. Results (1) Searching buffers against negative transfer: participants who first searched for an equation were less likely to overgeneralize compared to participants who completed a tell-and-practice activity. (2) Likelihood of creating a correct new adaptation varied by performance on the searching task. (3) Asking people to sketch alleviated some of the negative effects of tell-and-practice, but sketching did not augment the effect of searching. (4) When participants received more elaborate tell-and-practice instruction, the advantages of searching were less notable. Conclusions Searching for an algebraic formula prior to direct instruction may be a productive way to help learners connect a formula to its referent and avoid overgeneralization. Tell-and-practice instruction that only described the mathematical procedures led to the greatest levels of overgeneralization errors and worst performance. Tell-and-practice instruction that highlighted connections between the mathematical structure of the formula and the visual referent performed at similar or marginally worse levels than the search-first conditions.

Higher algebraic structures in Hamiltonian Floer theory

In this paper we show how the rich algebraic formalism of Eliashberg–Givental–Hofer’s symplectic field theory (SFT) can be used to define higher algebraic structures in Hamiltonian Floer theory. Using the SFT of Hamiltonian mapping tori we define a homotopy extension of the well-known Lie bracket and discuss how it can be used to prove the existence of multiple closed Reeb orbits. Furthermore we define the analogue of rational Gromov–Witten theory in the Hamiltonian Floer theory of open symplectic manifolds. More precisely, we introduce a so-called cohomology F-manifold structure in Hamiltonian Floer theory and prove that it generalizes the well-known Frobenius manifold structure in rational Gromov–Witten theory.