Developing skills for validity checking of intuitively appealing responses

Author / Creator

AAPT SM21 (2021)

Conferences

AAPT SM21 PS.B-SA-01: Best Practices for Developing Scientific Thinking, Reasoning, and Decision-Making Abilities II (2021)

Available as

Online

Summary

After instruction, many students apply basic physics knowledge correctly to solve problems that require straightforward applications of that knowledge. At the same time, some students struggle to a...

After instruction, many students apply basic physics knowledge correctly to solve problems that require straightforward applications of that knowledge. At the same time, some students struggle to apply the same knowledge in situations that elicit alternative intuitive ideas. To recognize an inconsistency between such intuitive ideas and formal knowledge, a process of conflict detection and override must be initiated. However, for this process to be sustained, students must articulate criteria that must be satisfied to accept or reject an intuitive response. It appears that many students need explicit instruction to help them recognize that the same physics knowledge could be used 1) as a tool for solving a given problem and 2) as a criterion for checking for the validity of intuitive responses. We will describe our efforts to design instruction in an introductory calculus-based Mechanics course that focuses on the second aspect of physics knowledge.

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