Using analogical problem solving to help students learn physics

• Main Author: 賴文強
• Other Authors: 林詩茵
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8n6htn

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 物理學系 === 106 === The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of an instructional intervention in which analogical problem solving is involved. In this study, we designed two isomorphic problems, which have the same physics principles but different surface features. Students were expected to learn from one of the problems (called the bowl problem), and take advantage of what they learned to solve the other problem (called the cart problem). This study involves two stages. In the first stage, students solved the cart problem without any help (pretest). Students’ performance in this stage can be used as a basis for judging whether student performance improved after the learning activity. In the second stage, students were given the bowl problem and relevant scaffolding materials. Students were asked to go through the scaffolding materials and took advantage of what they learned from the bowl problem to solve the cart problem a second time (posttest). It is worth noting that although the cart problem may look like a typical simple pendulum problem, the top of the pendulum is not tied to a fixed point. If students do not notice how this would impact the trajectory of the pendulum, they are likely to make mistakes. In order to guide students to contemplate the applicability of relevant physics principles in depth, we designed two types of learning activities: in Group A, students were asked to read over the correct solution to the bowl problem that was provided by the researchers. Then, they needed to answer a series of questions about the principles applied in the bowl problem, and then solved the cart problem again. On the other hand, Group B was provided with two hypothetical students’ solutions to the bowl problem (with both correct solution and incorrect solution embedded in them). Students in group B were asked to compare these two solutions and comment on the correctness of each part of the solutions. Then, they were asked to solve the cart problem again. The results of this study show that: 1.Students’ performance on calculating the targeted variable in the cart problem was significantly better on the posttest than that on the pretest. However, there is no significant difference between the two types of learning activities. And as for students’ post-test performance, there is still room for improvement. 2.Students’ concept of conservation of mechanical energy can still be strengthened. Many students are unable to correctly describe the applicability of this principle based on whether the work done by non-conservative force on the system is zero. 3.Students are not aware of the fact that v and r must be observed from the same reference frame when calculating the centripetal acceleration a_c=v^2⁄r . 4.In the learning process of analogical problem solving, if students were not aware of their own conceptual problems, even if they were provided with learning materials on these issues and relevant thinking questions that were intended to guide students to think about these issues carefully, such scaffolding may not necessarily be enough to make students aware of the problem in their original conceptual understanding. Thus, such scaffolding may not provide students with enough motivation for in-depth thinking and self-explanation.