PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

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An excellent example of an explicit claim with implicit, or non-verbal grounds, is
found in RM’s statement about the location of the center of weight of the bar: “You have
a weight right here.” When he points to where WB goes on diagram, he is supplying
support in the form of grounds. This is an example of grounds because the idea is
inferred from the diagram. When member MR says, “always goes in the center” she is
supplying a warrant that the center of weight for a uniformly dense object is at the center
of geometry. Note then that both members RM and MR support the initial Claim by
simply reiterating the statement in their own words.
Note student MK’s statement, “OK, so then what?” She often ends a segment of
dialog with such statements which either can be seen as requesting another problem
solving claim, or as summarizing what she has just done. In fact, a prime characteristic
of MK’s contribution to the group is the summarizing statement. Likewise, when she
says, “So we label that T,” she is not questioning but summarizing. MR’s statement
“Meters,” while hardly profound, clarifies the previous “1.5”. Such clarification
statements are an integral part of the elaboration process but do not precisely fit into any
of the four Toulmin categories.
In this segment of dialog, there is a variety of statements. Some statements
(Claims, Grounds, Warrants and Backings) clearly follow the Toulmin categories, and
some statements do not. (For a summary of the Toulmin Claim, Grounds, Warrants, and
Backings categories, refer to Table 2-4, page 58). Assuming that students do use
grounds, warrants and backings to support claims, and assuming they also make requests,
clarify and summarize statements, I defined additional categories to account for these
other statements.