Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations

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written by Vazgen Shekoyan and Eugenia Etkina

One important aspect of physics instruction is helping students develop better problem solving expertise. Besides enhancing the content knowledge, problems help students develop different cognitive abilities and skills. This paper focuses on ill-structured problems. These problems are different from traditional "end of chapter" well-structured problems. They do not have one right answer and thus the student has to examine different possibilities, assumptions and evaluate the outcomes. To solve such problems one has to engage in a cognitive monitoring called epistemic cognition. It is an important part of thinking in real life. Physicists routinely use epistemic cognition when they solve problems. We present a scaffolding technique for introducing ill-structured problems in introductory physics recitations and describe preliminary results of an exploratory study of student problem solving of ill-structured problems.

Physics Education Research Conference 2007
Part of the PER Conference series
Greensboro, NC: August 1-2, 2007
Volume 951, Pages 192-195

download 191kb .pdf
Published: November 12, 2007

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education - Applied Research - Active Learning = Problem Solving Education - Basic Research - Cognition	- Lower Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Research study

PER-Central Type	Intended Users	Ratings
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Format:: application/pdf
Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2820930
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available by subscription and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2007 2007 American Institute of Physics.
DOI:: 10.1063/1.2820930
PACS:: 01.40.Fk 01.40.Ha 01.40.gb
Keywords:: PERC 2007, educational courses, epistemic cognition, ill-structured problems, physics, problem solving, scaffolding techniques, teaching
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created June 10, 2009 by Jenny Rempel
Record Updated:: July 16, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: November 12, 2007
Other Collections:: The PSRC

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=9105">Shekoyan, Vazgen, and Eugenia Etkina. "Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, August 1-2, 2007.</a>

AIP Format

V. Shekoyan and E. Etkina, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, 2007, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019).

AJP/PRST-PER

V. Shekoyan and E. Etkina, Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, 2007, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019>.

APA Format

Shekoyan, V., & Etkina, E. (2007, August 1-2). Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019

Chicago Format

Shekoyan, Vazgen, and Eugenia Etkina. "Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2007, Greensboro, NC, August 1-2, 2007. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019 (accessed 18 September 2024).

MLA Format

Shekoyan, Vazgen, and Eugenia Etkina. "Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations." Physics Education Research Conference 2007. Greensboro, NC: 2007. 192-195 Vol. 951 of PER Conference. 18 Sep. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Vazgen Shekoyan and Eugenia Etkina", Title = {Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2007}, Pages = {192-195}, Address = {Greensboro, NC}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {951}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2007} }

Refer Export Format

%A Vazgen Shekoyan %A Eugenia Etkina %T Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations %S PER Conference %V 951 %D August 1-2 2007 %P 192-195 %C Greensboro, NC %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2007 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Shekoyan, Vazgen %A Etkina, Eugenia %D August 1-2 2007 %T Introducing Ill-Structured Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations %B Physics Education Research Conference 2007 %C Greensboro, NC %V 951 %P 192-195 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9105&DocID=2019

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