Shifting college students’ epistemological framing using hypothetical debate problems

Dehui Hu,N Sanjay Rebello

doi:10.1103/physrevstper.10.010117

Abstract

Developing expertise in physics problem solving requires the ability to use mathematics effectively in physical scenarios. Novices and experts often perceive the use of mathematics in physics differently. Students’ perceptions and how they frame the use of mathematics in physics play an important role in their physics problem solving. In this study, we examined students’ epistemological framing about using mathematics in physics in two types of problems: a conventional problem and a hypothetical debate problem. We found that when solving a conventional physics problem, students tended to frame problem solving in physics as rote equation chasing, i.e., plugging quantities into a memorized physics equation. In hypothetical debate problems, students were more likely to be involved in quantitative or qualitative sense making. We conclude that hypothetical debate problems might be used as an instructional tool for engaging students in sense making while using mathematics in physics. Thus, it might be potentially useful for developing more expertlike problem solving expertise.Received 15 May 2013DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.010117This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical Society

Highlights

Mathematics is regarded as the backbone of physics and science in general
We found that students’ framing about solving a physics problem is different on the conventional physics problem; overall, students spent significantly less time on rote equation chasing when working on the hypothetical debate problem
Example: Talking about adding small amount of charges to get the total charge without using formal mathematical equations problem to a hypothetical debate problem, we present the results for the two groups of students who were primarily involved in a rote equation chasing frame on the conventional physics problem and provide a detailed discussion about their framing for both types of problems to provide evidence for frame shifting

Summary

Introduction

Mathematics is regarded as the backbone of physics and science in general. Physics classes often involve the intensive use of mathematics, and it requires much more than the straightforward application of mathematical operations and algorithms. A significant portion of students in introductory level physics courses often struggle to apply mathematical skills in physics problem solving [3,4]. Research has shown that novice students often perceive the use of mathematics in physics very differently from expert physicists [1] and their expectations or perceptions can play powerful roles in their problem solving in physics [5,6]. Students’ expectations about what they are supposed to do in physics problem solving could strongly affect or even control their selection of knowledge resources in a situation. We investigate students’ physics problem solving from the perspective of epistemological framing, which describes an individual’s perceptions about what knowledge tools or skills are appropriate to use in a learning situation [6,7].

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