Representational task formats and problem solving strategies in kinematics and work

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that students employed different problem solving approaches when presented with the same task structured with different representations. In this study, we explored and compared students' strategies as they attempted tasks from two topical areas, kinematics and work. Our participants were 19 engineering students taking a calculus-based physics course. The tasks were presented in linguistic, graphical, and symbolic forms and requested either a qualitative solution or a value. The analysis was both qualitative and quantitative in nature focusing principally on the characteristics of the strategies employed as well as the underlying reasoning for their applications. A comparison was also made for the same student's approach with the same kind of representation across the two topics. Additionally, the participants' overall strategies across the different tasks, in each topic, were considered. On the whole, we found that the students prefer manipulating equations irrespective of the representational format of the task. They rarely recognized the applicability of a ''qualitative'' approach to solve the problem although they were aware of the concepts involved. Even when the students included visual representations in their solutions, they seldom used these representations in conjunction with the mathematical part of the problem. Additionally, the students were not consistent in their approach for interpreting and solving problems with the same kind of representation across the two topical areas. The representational format, level of prior knowledge, and familiarity with a topic appeared to influence their strategies, their written responses, and their ability to recognize qualitative ways to attempt a problem. The nature of the solution does not seem to impact the strategies employed to handle the problem.

Synthesis of discipline-based education research in physics

“…This research explores the use of external representations for describing information during problem solving, such as pictures, physics-specific descriptions (e.g., free-body diagrams, field line diagrams, or energy bar charts), concept maps, graphs, and equations. Some studies focus on what representations are constructed during problem solving and the manner in which they are used [92][93][94][95][96], whereas other studies explore the facility with which students or experts can translate across multiple representations [97][98][99]. How students frame the problem-solving task impacts problem solving [100,101], as well as whether problems use numerical versus symbolic values [102].…”

Problem Solving Approach in Electrical Energy and Power on Students as Physics Teacher Candidates

“…Although problem solving is one of the categories of thinking ability that used by teachers to teach their students to think (Rufaida & Sujiono, 2013), the practice of problem solving is the main factor in science education and technology (Ceberio, et al, 2016;Ibrahim & Rebello, 2012), especially in physics education (Adam & Wieman, 2005;Docktor & Mestre, 2014;Docktor et al, 2010). A good problem solving framework was needed to buil physics knowledge or introduce science culture (Docktor et al, 2016).…”

Role of mental representations in problem solving: Students’ approaches to nondirected tasks

“…Students' difficulties in handling particular representations such as diagrammatic and graphical representation in specific topics were investigated [21][22][23][24][25]. Studies were also geared towards exploring problem solving performance and hence differences in strategies with a change in representation [26][27][28]. The application of multiple representations for conceptual understanding [29,30] and enhancing problem solving performance [31,32] was additionally explored.…”