Comparing problem solving performance of physics students in inquiry-based and traditional introductory physics courses

Thacker, Beth; Kim, Eun Sook; Trefz, Kelvin; Lea, Suzanne M.

doi:10.1119/1.17480

Cited by 73 publications

(59 citation statements)

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“…6 Having said that fewer studies have investigated interventions to improve problem solving in physics, there is still extensive literature on the subject of the problem solving abilities of students. [7][8][9][10][11][12] Many studies have shown that, although students can learn to solve quantitative problems by plugging values into algorithmic equations, they may not be developing the skills necessary to transfer their understanding and solve more complex problems. 4,[13][14][15][16] A common view throughout most of this literature is that instruction should encourage students to "think like a physicist" or result in a shift from "a novice problem solver" to "an expert problem solver."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenomenographic study of students’ problem solving approaches in physics

Walsh¹,

Howard²,

Bowe³

2007

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

129

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This paper describes ongoing research investigating student approaches to quantitative and qualitative problem solving in physics. This empirical study was conducted using a phenomenographic approach to analyze data from individual semistructured problem solving interviews with 22 introductory college physics students. The main result of the study is a hierarchical set of categories that describe the students' problem solving approaches in the context of introductory physics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenomenographic study of students’ problem solving approaches in physics

Walsh¹,

Howard²,

Bowe³

2007

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

129

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Even students whose academic success has made them eligible for honors science coursework are not always able to respond successfully to conceptual assessments of subject matter (Thacker et al, 1994). On the one hand, this clearly indicates a limitation of this type of assessment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Assessing student understanding of physical hydrology

Marshall

Castillo

Cardenas

2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Our objective is to devise a mechanism to characterize and assess upper division and graduate student thinking in hydrology. We accomplish this through development and testing of an assessment tool for a physical hydrology class. The instrument was piloted in two sections of a physical hydrology course. Students were asked to respond to two questions that probed understanding and one question that assessed their ability to apply their knowledge, both prior to and after the course. Student and expert responses to the questions were classified into broad categories to develop a rubric to score responses. Using the rubric, three researchers independently blind-coded the full set of pre-and post-artifacts, resulting in 89% inter-rater agreement on the pre-tests and 83% agreement on the post-tests. The majority of responses made by students at the beginning of the class were characterized as showing only recognition of hydrology concepts from a non-physical perspective; post surveys indicated that the majority had moved to a basic understanding of physical processes, with some students achieving expert understanding. Our study has limitations, including the small number of participants who were all from one institution and the fact that the rubric was still under development. Nevertheless, the high inter-rater agreement from a group of experts indicates that the process we undertook is potentially useful for assessment of learning and understanding physical hydrology.

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“…Apesar de pesquisas mostrarem aumento no desempenho dos alunos nesse tipo de atividade em função de uma melhora no entendimento conceitual (CROUCH et al, 2007;THACKER;KIM;TREFZ, 1994), é muito importante que o professor se planeje para incluir tais atividades em suas aulas.…”

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