Solving physics problems with multiple representations

Dufresne, Robert J.; Gerace, William J.; Leonard, William J.

doi:10.1119/1.2344681

Cited by 116 publications

(91 citation statements)

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“…The tasks are posed with a single representational format, for example, a task with a graphical format only or another one presented solely in symbolic form. In contrast, for studies concerned with multiple representations, a given task is often structured with different kinds of representations presented either sequentially [30,[32][33][34] or in parallel [31,36]. In our study, the strategies employed across the different tasks posed with a single representational format were considered together and used to infer the kinds of mental representations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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. Moreover, studies have looked into the possible factors leading to the ineffectiveness of teaching and learning based on multiple representations [27,33,34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Ibrahim

Rebello

2013

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Ibrahim

Rebello

2013

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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“…[4][5][6][7] There has, however, been less work studying how student problem-solving performance varies as the problem representation is changed. 8 A few papers have broadened the study of representations to include metarepresentational skills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such representation-dependent strategy variations could begin to explain the different performances we observe in students solving different physics problems. We are unaware of prior work in PER directly investigating the representation dependence of student strategies, though there is substantial work investigating the teaching of representationand multiple-representation-based strategies [4][5][6][7] and investigating the differences ͑often involving representation use͒ between expert and novice problem-solving strategies. [18][19][20][21] We quantify the variation of student strategy in these interviews, and discuss the effect strategy variation had on student performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of representation on students solving physics problems: A fine-grained characterization

Kohl

Finkelstein

2006

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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Recent papers document that student problem-solving competence varies ͑often strongly͒ with representational format, and that there are significant differences between the effects that traditional and reform-based instructional environments have on these competences ͓Kohl and Finkelstein, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1, 010104 ͑2005͒; 2, 010102 ͑2006͔͒. These studies focused on large-lecture introductory physics courses, and included aggregate data on student performance on quizzes and homeworks. In this paper, we complement previous papers with finer-grained in-depth problem-solving interviews. In 16 interviews of students drawn from these classes, we investigate in more detail how and when student problem-solving performance varies with problem representation ͑verbal, mathematical, graphical, or pictorial͒. We find that student strategy often varies with representation, and that in this environment students who show more strategy variation tend to perform more poorly. We also verify that student performance depends sensitively on the particular combination of representation, topic, and student prior knowledge. Finally, we confirm that students have generally robust opinions of their representational skills, and that these opinions correlate poorly with their actual performances.

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“…The use of multiple representations [27,28] and enriched contexts [29,30] has also been used as part of instructional programs designed to produce more expertlike thinking or to improve the attitudes of students toward science. Application of contextually paired problems has also been investigated as an instructional method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using cluster analysis to identify patterns in students’ responses to contextually different conceptual problems

Stewart

Miller

Audo

2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

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This study examined the evolution of student responses to seven contextually different versions of two Force Concept Inventory questions in an introductory physics course at the University of Arkansas. The consistency in answering the closely related questions evolved little over the seven-question exam. A model for the state of student knowledge involving the probability of selecting one of the multiple-choice answers was developed. Criteria for using clustering algorithms to extract model parameters were explored and it was found that the overlap between the probability distributions of the model vectors was an important parameter in characterizing the cluster models. The course data were then clustered and the extracted model showed that students largely fit into two groups both pre-and postinstruction: one that answered all questions correctly with high probability and one that selected the distracter representing the same misconception with high probability. For the course studied, 14% of the students were left with persistent misconceptions post instruction on a static force problem and 30% on a dynamic Newton's third law problem. These students selected the answer representing the predominant misconception slightly more consistently postinstruction, indicating that the course studied had been ineffective at moving this subgroup of students nearer a Newtonian force concept and had instead moved them slightly farther away from a correct conceptual understanding of these two problems. The consistency in answering pairs of problems with varied physical contexts is shown to be an important supplementary statistic to the score on the problems and suggests that the inclusion of such problem pairs in future conceptual inventories would be efficacious. Multiple, contextually varied questions further probe the structure of students' knowledge. To allow working instructors to make use of the additional insight gained from cluster analysis, it is our hope that the physics education research community will make these methods available though their Web sites.

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Solving physics problems with multiple representations

Cited by 116 publications

References 0 publications

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

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

Effects of representation on students solving physics problems: A fine-grained characterization

Using cluster analysis to identify patterns in students’ responses to contextually different conceptual problems

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