Abstract
Physics problems investigated in professional workplaces go beyond textbook problems typically studied in PER; it is important for PER to include the demands of these workplaces in studies related to problem solving in physics instruction.
Highlights
Learning, and the impact of an education, continues long after students graduate from school and enter professional workplaces
The findings reveal games that are distinct from prior physics education research involving epistemic games, but still are relevant for supporting instruction in physics
Across the undergraduate physics curriculum, there is a significant amount of research on problem solving using mathematics, including understanding the strategies employed by students, expert-novice differences on solving introductory problems, the development of problem-solving skills, as well as the transfer of problem-solving abilities [16,17]
Summary
The impact of an education, continues long after students graduate from school and enter professional workplaces. Treating the workplace as a STEM learning environment is already a viewpoint embraced by the National Science Foundation [8] Within physics it seems important given the wide gap between typical faculty experiences and students’ places of eventual employment. Within the professional practice of physics, the role of mathematics is so essential it has been regarded as the “language of physics” [14] and its effectiveness at describing the physical world is so remarkable that one distinguished physicist described it as “unreasonable” [15] Within this project, we delved into mathematical problem solving in physics workplaces through the use of in-depth interviews with engineers, technicians, and researchers. The findings reveal games that are distinct from prior physics education research involving epistemic games, but still are relevant for supporting instruction in physics
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