PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

Multiple Claims in an Episode
When looking at the 14 prototype flowcharts, I discovered something perplexing.
There were multiple claims in some prototypes. This is seen the in the prototype example
from Group 4D (Figure 3-3, page 109). I went back to the transcripts and examined them
with reference to the episode flowcharts. I found that episodes had multiple, additional
claims that seemed to change the essence of the initial claim. In other words, these
additional claims were elaborating the original claim. I realized I needed a better way to
handle additional claims that would somehow discern differences between the various
claims. Group 4B provides an excellent example of the problem (Table 3-18, page 111).
The claims in 107, 111, 112, and 114 seemed to be slightly modifying what went before.
Moreover, the claim in 113, has an inherent challenge within it. I had expected to find
challenges (for example, line 119), but I could not determine how to handle the implicit
challenge in 113. This challenge was imbedded in a claim.
A flowchart of this episode (Figure 3-4, page 112) did not reveal any direct clues.
The flowchart does reveal a succession of claims, all slightly related, but still new claims.
I gradually came to the realization that I was seeing two additional types of claims, one
slightly modifying the prior claim, the other (e.g., line 113) giving a new, alternate idea.
With the idea of modifying and alternate claims in mind, I returned to all the
fourteen groups and examined the transcripts and the flowcharts for every episode. I
examined each additional claim in an episode as to its function within the episode. There
were indeed two types of additional claims. Considering how they were used, I named
them the Alternate Claim and the Modified Claim.