Abstract
Physics education literature recommends using multiple representations to help students understand concepts and solve problems. However, there is little research concerning why students use the representations and whether those who use them are more successful. This study addresses these questions using free-body diagrams (diagrammatic representations used in problems involving forces) as a type of representation. We conducted a two-year quantitative and qualitative study of students' use of free-body diagrams while solving physics problems. We found that when students are in a course that consistently emphasizes the use of free-body diagrams, the majority of them do use diagrams on their own to help solve exam problems even when they receive no credit for drawing the diagrams. We also found that students who draw diagrams correctly are significantly more successful in obtaining the right answer for the problem. Lastly, we interviewed students to uncover their reasons for using free-body diagrams. We found that high achieving students used the diagrams to help solve the problems and as a tool to evaluate their work while low achieving students only used representations as aids in the problem-solving process.
Highlights
AND PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCHThe conceptual knowledge in physics courses is often presented in an abstract symbolic form
We found that when students are in a course that consistently emphasizes the use of free-body diagrams, the majority of them do use diagrams on their own to help solve exam problems even when they receive no credit for drawing the diagrams
This study investigates whether students who learn physics in an environment that explicitly focuses on multiple representations, and on free-body diagrams, use free-body diagrams to help them solve problems, and whether the quality of the diagrams that students draw is related to their problemsolving success
Summary
AND PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCHThe conceptual knowledge in physics courses is often presented in an abstract symbolic form. The human mind relates best to picturelike representations that emphasize qualitative features but not detailed precise information.[1] There have been a great many studies on physics learning indicating that students taught with an emphasis primarily on using mathematics to develop and apply concepts fail tests with seemingly simple conceptual questions that measure understanding. In these courses they learn to use formula-centered problemsolving methods with little understanding.[2]. A main question in this paper is to decide if a learning system with considerable emphasis on describing processes in concrete and in abstract ways and in building links between these different representations enhances student learning and problem-solving ability
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