Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games

Although much is known about the differences between expert and novice problem solvers, knowledge of those differences typically does not provide enough detail to help instructors understand why some students seem to learn physics while solving problems and others do not. A critical issue is how stu...

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Autores principales:	Jonathan Tuminaro, Edward F. Redish
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2007
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/427ce47e889c4ff498bf376934fea1bb
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:427ce47e889c4ff498bf376934fea1bb2021-12-02T11:51:44ZElements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.3.0201011554-9178https://doaj.org/article/427ce47e889c4ff498bf376934fea1bb2007-07-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.3.020101http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.3.020101https://doaj.org/toc/1554-9178Although much is known about the differences between expert and novice problem solvers, knowledge of those differences typically does not provide enough detail to help instructors understand why some students seem to learn physics while solving problems and others do not. A critical issue is how students access the knowledge they have in the context of solving a particular problem. In this paper, we discuss our observations of students solving physics problems in authentic situations in an algebra-based physics class at the University of Maryland. We find that when these students are working together and interacting effectively, they often use a limited set of locally coherent resources for blocks of time of a few minutes or more. This coherence appears to provide the student with guidance as to what knowledge and procedures to access and what to ignore. Often, this leads to the students failing to apply relevant knowledge they later show they possess. In this paper, we outline a theoretical phenomenology for describing these local coherences and identify six organizational structures that we refer to as epistemic games. The hypothesis that students tend to function within the narrow confines of a fairly limited set of games provides a good description of our observations. We demonstrate how students use these games in two case studies and discuss the implications for instruction.Jonathan TuminaroEdward F. RedishAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research, Vol 3, Iss 2, p 020101 (2007)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Jonathan Tuminaro Edward F. Redish Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
description	Although much is known about the differences between expert and novice problem solvers, knowledge of those differences typically does not provide enough detail to help instructors understand why some students seem to learn physics while solving problems and others do not. A critical issue is how students access the knowledge they have in the context of solving a particular problem. In this paper, we discuss our observations of students solving physics problems in authentic situations in an algebra-based physics class at the University of Maryland. We find that when these students are working together and interacting effectively, they often use a limited set of locally coherent resources for blocks of time of a few minutes or more. This coherence appears to provide the student with guidance as to what knowledge and procedures to access and what to ignore. Often, this leads to the students failing to apply relevant knowledge they later show they possess. In this paper, we outline a theoretical phenomenology for describing these local coherences and identify six organizational structures that we refer to as epistemic games. The hypothesis that students tend to function within the narrow confines of a fairly limited set of games provides a good description of our observations. We demonstrate how students use these games in two case studies and discuss the implications for instruction.
format	article
author	Jonathan Tuminaro Edward F. Redish
author_facet	Jonathan Tuminaro Edward F. Redish
author_sort	Jonathan Tuminaro
title	Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
title_short	Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
title_full	Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
title_fullStr	Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
title_full_unstemmed	Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games
title_sort	elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: epistemic games
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2007
url	https://doaj.org/article/427ce47e889c4ff498bf376934fea1bb
work_keys_str_mv	AT jonathantuminaro elementsofacognitivemodelofphysicsproblemsolvingepistemicgames AT edwardfredish elementsofacognitivemodelofphysicsproblemsolvingepistemicgames
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Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games

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