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Problematizing in inquiry-based labs: how students respond to unexpected results
Conference proceeding   Open access

Problematizing in inquiry-based labs: how students respond to unexpected results

Meagan Sundstrom, Anna McLean Phillips and N. G. Holmes
2020 PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE (PERC), pp 539-544
01 Jan 2020
url
https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2020.pr.SundstromView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Education & Educational Research Education, Scientific Disciplines Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Multidisciplinary Science & Technology Social Sciences
Problematizing is a physics practice involving the articulation of a gap in understanding into a clear question or problem. Inquiry-based labs may be conducive to problematizing behaviors, as students often collect data that do not agree with simplified models or their intuitive predictions. In this study, we analyzed video of students performing a lab in which they find the acceleration of an object in flight to be different from what the presented models predict. We aimed to identify the various activities that groups engaged in upon recognizing this inconsistency. Common problematizing activities included explicit discussions of physics concepts, proposing a new experiment or calculation, and checking experimental calculations. We found that each group's sequence and duration of activities was quite unique, highlighting a diversity of approaches taken to address this inconsistency.

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Web of Science research areas
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Physics, Multidisciplinary
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