PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

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The main reason for reformulating the groups after each graded problem was to
promote heterogeneous grouping. This also tends to avoid a situation where group
members become dependent upon one person for the solution. Sometimes personality
conflicts arise in a group and reformulation can alleviate the difficulty. A negative aspect
of the periodic reformulation is the short “residence time” of a student in a group. Two
weeks may be too short a time for students to become cohesive and work cooperatively.
The students were introduced to the four group roles of Manager, Recorder,
Skeptic and Engergizer. Table 2-1 (page 32) is a handout we use in our classes to teach
the group roles. The teaching assistants were introduced to these roles in their initial
training and were asked to instruct their students in the use of the roles. There are
numerous comments by the students in the transcripts that reference these roles. Also,
some of the actions they take are actually the outcome of these roles. Hence, the “sounds
like” ideas later helped me when I had to code statements in the transcripts. These roles
are “metacognitive.” That is, they are thinking tasks individual, competent problem
solvers do when faced with a physics problem. For example, physicists are very good at
asking themselves skeptical questions when faced with a new situation. Novice problem
solvers typically do not have the metacognitive skills necessary to engage in this type of
activity. These roles are based on observations of what competent problem solvers
actually do (Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 1984; Heller, Keith and Anderson, 1992).
Students were taught a problem solving strategy which was modeled in class by
the professor (Heller and Hollabaugh, 1992). They were expected to use this five-step
strategy in the recitation period when solving a complex problem as a group. Throughout
their discussions, they make references to the steps of this strategy. Thus, it will be