PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

Co-Construction of the Argument Revisted
A major theme of this research is that the students in a cooperative problem-
solving group are co-constructing the solution to the problem. There is preliminary
evidence that this is occurring in at least 13 of these 14 groups: It is possible to use the
Toulmin argument structure to analyze the discussion, the conversations proceed
episodically, and the flowchart analysis shows connected discourse. Although in Group
4C, the individual episodes are somewhat coherent, their episodes typically do not
connect logically to one another and thus their prototype flowchart shows an arrow
leading to nothing (Figure 3-9, page 120). One of the things I noticed when drawing the
flowcharts was that particular students made particular kinds of statements. For example,
in Group 4D, member ST made all of the Modified Claims. To explore co-construction
of the argument further, I examined the pattern of who is making the Alternate Claims
and Modified Claims. Does the same person make the Modified or Alternate Claim as
the original Claim, or is it someone different? Four patterns were noticed.
Who makes Claims Shifts among Members
The claim-making role shifts between students. That is, the maker of a Modified
Claim is usually not the maker of the original claim as is seen Group 4B’s Episode 16,
Table 3-21 (page 116). Members JH and KJ make Modified Claims and Alternate
Claims following LP’s original Claim (see Table 3-26, page 128, Group 2D, for an
additional example). However, when the Alternate or Modified claimant is the same
person as the original claimant, other students had intervening supporting statements, as
this example from Group 4A (Table 3-22, p. 123) illustrates: