We investigate the effects of visual cueing on students' eye movements and reasoning on introductory physics problems with diagrams. Participants in our study were randomly assigned to either the cued or noncued conditions, which differed by whether the participants saw conceptual physics problems overlaid with dynamic visual cues. Students in the cued condition were shown an initial problem, and if they answered that incorrectly, they were shown a series of problems each with selection and integration cues overlaid on the problem diagrams. Students in the noncued condition were also provided a series of problems, but without any visual cues. We found that significantly more participants in the cued condition answered the problems overlaid with visual cues correctly on one of the four problem sets used and a subsequent uncued problem (the transfer problem) on a different problem set. We also found that those in the cued condition spent significantly less time looking at ''novicelike'' areas of the diagram in the transfer problem on three of the four problem sets and significantly more time looking at the ''expertlike'' areas of the diagram in the transfer problem on one problem set. Thus, the use of visual cues to influence reasoning and visual attention in physics problems is promising.

This study investigated links between visual attention processes and conceptual problem solving. This was done by overlaying visual cues on conceptual physics problem diagrams to direct participants’ attention to relevant areas to facilitate problem solving. Participants (N = 80) individually worked through four problem sets, each containing a diagram, while their eye movements were recorded. Each diagram contained regions that were relevant to solving the problem correctly and separate regions related to common incorrect responses. Problem sets contained an initial problem, six isomorphic training problems, and a transfer problem. The cued condition saw visual cues overlaid on the training problems. Participants’ verbal responses were used to determine their accuracy. This study produced two major findings. First, short duration visual cues which draw attention to solution-relevant information and aid in the organizing and integrating of it, facilitate both immediate problem solving and generalization of that ability to new problems. Thus, visual cues can facilitate re-representing a problem and overcoming impasse, enabling a correct solution. Importantly, these cueing effects on problem solving did not involve the solvers’ attention necessarily embodying the solution to the problem, but were instead caused by solvers attending to and integrating relevant information in the problems into a solution path. Second, this study demonstrates that when such cues are used across multiple problems, solvers can automatize the extraction of problem-relevant information extraction. These results suggest that low-level attentional selection processes provide a necessary gateway for relevant information to be used in problem solving, but are generally not sufficient for correct problem solving. Instead, factors that lead a solver to an impasse and to organize and integrate problem information also greatly facilitate arriving at correct solutions.

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Abstract. Research has demonstrated that attentional cues overlaid on diagrams and animations can help students attend to the relevant areas and facilitate problem solving. In this study we investigate the influence of visual cues and correctness feedback on students' reasoning as they solve conceptual physics problems containing a diagram. The participants (N=90) were enrolled in an algebra-based physics course and were individually interviewed. During each interview students solved four problem sets each containing an initial problem, six isomorphic training problems, and a transfer problem. The cued conditions saw visual cues on the training problems, and the feedback conditions were told if their responses (answer and explanation) were correct or incorrect. We found that visual cues and correctness feedback significantly improves students' abilities to solve the training and transfer problems.

Several reasons have been proposed to explain students' incorrect answers to conceptual physics problems. Heckler [3] proposed with a perceptual basis: plausible and salient "eye catching" features in a problem capture students' attention. Once students attend to these perceptually salient features, less salient albeit thematically relevant features are not considered and students answer the problem incorrectly based on the salient features. To test this hypothesis we recorded eye movements of introductory physics students on 15 conceptual problems with diagrams. Each diagram contained areas consistent with documented novice-like answers and other areas consistent with the scientifically correct answer. We manipulated the luminance contrast of the diagrams to produce three versions of each diagram, which differed by the area with the highest level of perceptual salience. We found no effect of the salience on the correctness of students' answers. We also discuss how the salience manipulations influence eye movements.

Abstract.Research has shown that the concept of force in a pulley is learned equally well by students using physical and virtual manipulatives. We report on a study in which students enrolled in a conceptual physics laboratory spent two weeks investigating pulley systems using either physical or virtual manipulatives. Students were given written materials which guided them through a series of activities which scaffolded the construction of their conceptions of pulleys. Students were required to make predictions and then test these predictions by building and comparing different pulley systems. They were presented with a challenge to design the best pulley system to lift a piano at the end of each week. We compare how the students' conceptions of pulleys develop between the physical and virtual treatments as well as investigate the ways in which they use the manipulatives while completing the scaffolding activities.

Overlaying visual cues on diagrams and animations can help students attend to relevant areas and facilitate problem solving. In this study we investigated the effects of visual cues on students' eye movements as they solved conceptual physics problems. Students (N=80) enrolled in an introductory physics course individually worked through four sets of problems, each containing a diagram, while their eye movements were recorded. Each diagram contained regions that were alternatively relevant to solving the problem correctly or related to common incorrect responses. Each problem set contained an initial problem, six isomorphic training problems, and a transfer problem. Those in the cued condition saw visual cues overlaid on the training problems. Students provided verbal responses. The cued group more accurately answered the (uncued) transfer problems, and their eye movements showed they more efficiently extracted the necessary information from the relevant area than the uncued group.

Abstract. Recent research results have found that students using virtual manipulatives perform as well or better on measures of conceptual understanding than their peers who used physical equipment. We report on a study with students in a conceptual physics laboratory using either physical or virtual manipulatives to investigate forces in pulley systems. Written materials guided students through a sequence of activities designed to scaffold their understanding of force in pulley systems. The activity sequences facilitated students' sense making by requiring them to make and test predictions about various pulley systems by building and comparing different systems. We investigate the ways in which students discuss force while navigating the scaffolding activities and how these discussions compare between the physical and virtual treatments.