Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks

Traditionally, scholars in physics education research have focused on students solving well-structured learning activities at the university. However, due to their constrained nature, these problems hinder collaboration and idea generation. In order to encourage student collaboration and decision ma...

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Autores principales:	Javier Pulgar, Valentina Fahler, Alexis Spina
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2021
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ae58b1cadd184444b805465a40dc7c2e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ae58b1cadd184444b805465a40dc7c2e2021-12-02T11:45:43ZInvestigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.0101202469-9896https://doaj.org/article/ae58b1cadd184444b805465a40dc7c2e2021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010120http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.010120https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Traditionally, scholars in physics education research have focused on students solving well-structured learning activities at the university. However, due to their constrained nature, these problems hinder collaboration and idea generation. In order to encourage student collaboration and decision making demands among undergraduate students in an introductory physics course, we utilized a real-world problem where groups were asked to compose a well-structured physics problem for younger learners. In this study we explored how they collaborated in composing physics problems. Data collection consisted of audio recording of the group discussions while they were collaborating to develop their physics problems and their respective problem solutions. Through interviews, we accessed participants’ perceptions of the task and related challenges. Results suggest that composing problems is an opportunity for participants to propose ideas and make decisions regarding the goals of the problem, concepts and procedures, contextual details, and magnitudes and units to introduce in their activities. Further, participants valued the open-ended nature of the task and recognized its benefits in utilizing physics ideas into context, which in turn enabled collaboration in a way not experienced by them with traditional well-structured problems. These findings shed light on the nature of composing physics problems in undergraduate courses, where participants assume a different role by facing a real-world activity that encourages expertise through physics-related communication and writing.Javier PulgarValentina FahlerAlexis SpinaAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 17, Iss 1, p 010120 (2021)
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 Javier Pulgar Valentina Fahler Alexis Spina Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
description	Traditionally, scholars in physics education research have focused on students solving well-structured learning activities at the university. However, due to their constrained nature, these problems hinder collaboration and idea generation. In order to encourage student collaboration and decision making demands among undergraduate students in an introductory physics course, we utilized a real-world problem where groups were asked to compose a well-structured physics problem for younger learners. In this study we explored how they collaborated in composing physics problems. Data collection consisted of audio recording of the group discussions while they were collaborating to develop their physics problems and their respective problem solutions. Through interviews, we accessed participants’ perceptions of the task and related challenges. Results suggest that composing problems is an opportunity for participants to propose ideas and make decisions regarding the goals of the problem, concepts and procedures, contextual details, and magnitudes and units to introduce in their activities. Further, participants valued the open-ended nature of the task and recognized its benefits in utilizing physics ideas into context, which in turn enabled collaboration in a way not experienced by them with traditional well-structured problems. These findings shed light on the nature of composing physics problems in undergraduate courses, where participants assume a different role by facing a real-world activity that encourages expertise through physics-related communication and writing.
format	article
author	Javier Pulgar Valentina Fahler Alexis Spina
author_facet	Javier Pulgar Valentina Fahler Alexis Spina
author_sort	Javier Pulgar
title	Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
title_short	Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
title_full	Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
title_fullStr	Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
title_full_unstemmed	Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
title_sort	investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ae58b1cadd184444b805465a40dc7c2e
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Investigating how university students collaborate to compose physics problems through structured tasks

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