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Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
written by Patrick B. Kohl and Noah D. Finkelstein
Student success in solving physics problems is related to the representational format of the problem. We study student representational competence in two large-lecture algebra-based introductory university physics courses with approximately 600 participants total. We examined student performance on homework problems given in four different representational formats (mathematical, pictorial, graphical, verbal), with problem statements as close to isomorphic as possible. In addition to the homeworks, we examine students' assessment of representations by providing follow-up quizzes in which they chose between various problem formats. As a control, some parts of the classes were assigned a random-format follow-up quiz. We find that there are statistically significant performance differences between different representations of nearly isomorphic statements of quiz and homework problems. We also find that allowing students to choose which representational format they use improves student performance under some circumstances and degrades it in others. Notably, one of the two courses studied shows much greater performance differences between the groups that received a choice of format and those that did not, and we consider possible causes. Overall, we observe that student representational competence is tied to both micro- and macrolevel features of the task and environment.
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Applied Research
- Pedagogy
Education - Basic Research
- Cognition
- Learning Theory
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
PER-Central Type Intended Users Ratings
- PER Literature
- Researchers
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Formats:
application/pdf
non-digital
Access Rights:
Free access
Restriction:
© 2005 American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104
PACS:
01.40.Fk
Keywords:
cognition, isomorphic statements, multiple representations, teaching methods
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created February 7, 2007 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
November 19, 2007 by Vince Kuo
Last Update
when Cataloged:
October 19, 2005
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Record Link
AIP Format
P. Kohl and N. Finkelstein, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1 (1), (2005), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104).
AJP/PRST-PER
P. Kohl and N. Finkelstein, Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1 (1), (2005), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104>.
APA Format
Kohl, P., & Finkelstein, N. (2005, October 19). Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 1(1). Retrieved December 2, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104
Chicago Format
Kohl, Patrick B., and Noah Finkelstein. "Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1, no. 1, (October 19, 2005), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104 (accessed 2 December 2024).
MLA Format
Kohl, Patrick B., and Noah Finkelstein. "Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1.1 (2005). 2 Dec. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Patrick B. Kohl and Noah Finkelstein", Title = {Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {1}, Number = {1}, Month = {October}, Year = {2005} }
Refer Export Format

%A Patrick B. Kohl %A Noah Finkelstein %T Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 1 %N 1 %D October 19, 2005 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Kohl, Patrick B. %A Finkelstein, Noah %D October 19, 2005 %T Student representational competence and self-assessment when solving physics problems %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 1 %N 1 %8 October 19, 2005 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.1.010104


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