Phenomenographic study of students’ problem solving approaches in physics

Walsh, Laura; Howard, Robert Glenn; Bowe, Brian

doi:10.1103/physrevstper.3.020108

Cited by 129 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…When the findings of the PAT were interpreted, problem-solving strategy steps were positively effective on students' problem-solving performance. The results have been confirmed by the findings of Gok (2012a), , Heller & Hollabaugh (1992), and Walsh, Robert, & Bowe (2007).…”

Section: The Comparisons Of the Groups' Pat Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

Students’ Achievement, Skill and Confidence in Using Stepwise Problem-Solving Strategies

Gok

2014

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Problem-Solving Strategy Steps (PSSS) on students' achievement, skill, and confidence. The study was conducted in a two-year college classroom with 70 students from two different groups enrolled in a physics course. One of them was randomly selected as an experimental group (EG) and the other was the control group (CG). The students included in the EG were instructed by PSSS and traditional instruction while the students in the CG were instructed by only traditional instruction. The study was conducted in Newtonian Mechanics. The data of the research were collected with the Physics Achievement Test (PAT), the Problem-Solving Strategy Steps Survey (1P4S), and the Problem-Solving Confidence Questionnaire (PSCQ). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the means of the EG and the CG in favor of the EG. Also, the use of problem-solving strategy steps contributed to the critical and analytical skills of the students.

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Section: The Comparisons Of the Groups' Pat Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

Students’ Achievement, Skill and Confidence in Using Stepwise Problem-Solving Strategies

Gok

2014

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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“…Phenomenography was chosen as the approach of inquiry or methodology with which to answer the research problem stated above. It has become an established methodology in education research as it aims to understand the various ways in which different people experience, perceive or understand the same phenomena (Walsh et al, 2007a(Walsh et al, , 2007bStamouli & Huggard, 2007).…”

Section: Research Design and Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers’ and Students’ Preliminary Stages in Physics Problem Solving

Mansyur¹

2015

IES

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This paper describes the preliminary stages in physics problem solving related to the use of external representation. This empirical study was carried out using phenomenographic approach to analize data from individual thinking-aloud and interview 8 senior high school students and 7 physics teachers. The result of this study is a set of outcome space that describes the teachers' and students' preliminary stages in solving a physics problem. The outcome space includes three categories, i.e: the Constructing Diagram: Lead to Successful Solution; Constructing Diagram: Lead to Unsuccessful Solution: and No Diagram: Lead to Unsuccessful Solution. Linkage of student-teacher pairs in the same school is found on the pattern of the preliminary stages of their problem solving.

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“…Students in introductory physics courses solve problems largely using a process termed means-ends analysis, whereby they search for equations containing the quantities in a problem and try to reduce the "distance" between the goal state and their current state in the solution process [5,8,15,16]. Students are not taught to solve problems simply by manipulating equations since instructors typically mention the concepts and principles that they are applying, but students rightly perceive the equations as being central to obtaining quantitative answers and tend to ignore conceptual information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Physics teaching in both high school and college places an emphasis on problem solving [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], and although students demonstrate reasonable competence in traditional assessments of problem solving skills, there is evidence that understanding of fairly fundamental concepts is weak or lacking following completion of introductory courses [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Students in introductory physics courses solve problems largely using a process termed means-ends analysis, whereby they search for equations containing the quantities in a problem and try to reduce the "distance" between the goal state and their current state in the solution process [5,8,15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual problem solving in high school physics

Docktor

Strand

Mestre

et al. 2015

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

142

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Problem solving is a critical element of learning physics. However, traditional instruction often emphasizes the quantitative aspects of problem solving such as equations and mathematical procedures rather than qualitative analysis for selecting appropriate concepts and principles. This study describes the development and evaluation of an instructional approach called Conceptual Problem Solving (CPS) which guides students to identify principles, justify their use, and plan their solution in writing before solving a problem. The CPS approach was implemented by high school physics teachers at three schools for major theorems and conservation laws in mechanics and CPS-taught classes were compared to control classes taught using traditional problem solving methods. Information about the teachers' implementation of the approach was gathered from classroom observations and interviews, and the effectiveness of the approach was evaluated from a series of written assessments. Results indicated that teachers found CPS easy to integrate into their curricula, students engaged in classroom discussions and produced problem solutions of a higher quality than before, and students scored higher on conceptual and problem solving measures.

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Phenomenographic study of students’ problem solving approaches in physics

Cited by 129 publications

References 31 publications

Students’ Achievement, Skill and Confidence in Using Stepwise Problem-Solving Strategies

Students’ Achievement, Skill and Confidence in Using Stepwise Problem-Solving Strategies

Teachers’ and Students’ Preliminary Stages in Physics Problem Solving

Conceptual problem solving in high school physics

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