PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

(^) The Alternate Claim and Modified Claim have several distinctive features. Their
characteristics, which will be discussed in more detail, are:

 An Alternate Claim follows a Claim or a Modified Claim and presents a
contradictory or alternate idea to the initial claim. Either an explicit
Challenge precedes an Alternate Claim, or a challenge is implicit within the
Alternate Claim. Alternate Claims are sometimes stated as a question. Other
verbal cues include “Perhaps we should consider..,” “On the other hand..,” “I
think it’s...”

 A Modified Claim follows a Claim or an Alternate Claim. A Modified Claim
offers an additional, non-contradictory idea(s) to the initial claim, and serves
to clarify, extend or elaborate upon the initial claim. A Modified Claim is
usually stated in a non-confrontational manner compared to an Alternate
Claim.
I also revised the flowchart symbology to reflect this new insight. In addition to
symbols representing the Modified Claim and Alternate Claim, I added dotted lines to
show the connection of the Modified Claim or Alternate Claim to the original Claim if
the connected statements were not sequential. Figure 3-5 (page 114) illustrates the new
symbology. In this key flowchart, the dotted line from the Support statement in 26 to the
Challenge in 24 indicates the support was for the challenge. It is not uncommon to find
these intervening statements. I did not draw a dotted line if a statement relates to the
immediately preceding statement. Table 3-19 (page 114) summarizes the abbreviations
used for the statement types. These appear in the flowcharts in the abbreviated form.