PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

(^)
group. A log sheet recorded the students’ names, phone numbers, addresses, a serial
number identifying the tape, and comments by the videographer.
Photocopies of the written solutions of the videotaped groups were made
available to me, as well as the complete quarterly grade records for the class. Teaching
assistants worked in pairs and took turns grading all the written problem solutions so
there would be consistency within a given problem. The teaching assistants and the
professor were not allowed to view the videotapes.
The six problems which comprise the study dealt mainly with two areas of
physics: Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Conservation of Energy. Table 2-3 (page
49) summarizes the problems. Compete texts of each problem are found in Appendix B.
Immediately following each taping session, the videotapes were transcribed by a
transcription assistant. Although the transcriber was a passive observer of the groups, he
frequently mentioned to me certain “fascinating” things he had observed a group doing. I
then watched each tape, making corrections to the transcript, noting any interesting non-
verbal behavior, and annotating references to the written problem solution. Each taping
session was assigned a number (2,3,4,5,6,7) and within each session each group was
assigned a letter (e.g., 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D). Thus a reference in this dissertation to Group 3A
means the “A” group of the third taped problem. It is important to note that each
videotaped group was in a different room and under the tutelage of a different teaching
assistant. Thus, the teaching assistant who appears on Tape 4B is not the same teaching
assistant who appears on Tape 4D.