PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

(^) 4. Although groups engage in both types additional claims, they tend to have a typical
controversy pattern which uses either Alternate Claims or Modified Claims. This pattern
is related to the correctness of the original claim.
The grounds for this finding are:
 Direct challenges are rare.
 13 of the 14 groups followed a Controversy Model of Decision Making.
(Warrant: Johnson Model, Table 4-10, p. 151)
 9 of the 13 groups following the Controversy Model did not use Alternate
Claims but do use Modified Claims. 7 Claim quality. Modified Claims are requested in these gof these 9 groups have a higroups. her initial
 5 of the 13 groups following the Controversy Model use Alternate Claims.
These 5 groups have a lower initial Claim quality. Alternate Claims are never
requested in any group.
 At least one Modified Claim and one Alternate Claim are found in every
group. (Table 3-23, page 125)
To summarize, when a Modified Claim stands in isolation from any Alternate
Claim, it seems to fulfill a refinement role, what a physicist might call a “tweaking” of
the original claim. Again, the very definition of the Modified Claim may be partially
responsible for this “tweaking” function: A Modified Claim presents a variation on the
prior claim, but does not present a totally new idea. This also seems to be the function
when the Modified Claim appears in an episode with an Alternate Claim. Alternate
Claims are more likely when the original Claim is somehow erroneous. The presence or
absence of a dominant student in a group does not seem to directly influence quality of
the original Claim, but the making of Alternate Claims may be inhibited in a group with a
dominant student