PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

(Martin Jones) #1

Grou


p^


Gende


r


Perf.


Com


ments


2A^

MM

FF

LLMH

Imbal

ance. N

o pl

an; i

ncorrect

free-

body

diag

ram

; at l

east

3 m

iscon

cept

ions

. D


idn'
t so
lve f

or t
he proper t

arget

vari

able

.

2 B^

MM

F

LMH

All part

icip

ate. U

ndef

ined coordi

nate

sys

tem

. Pl


an i

mproperl

y tran

slat
es f
ree-

body

diag

ram

s.

2D^

MM

F

LMH

Talk

ativ

e. Un

clear s

olution

, no

execu

tion

. KE an


d L
S w

ere

the orig

inal g

roup an

d SU j

oined th

em as

a si

ngle. Did n

ot

attem

pt to

solv

e fo

r pr
ope
r targ

et v
ariab

le.

3A^

MFF

LMH

Preci

se. A

t leas

t 1 m

iscon

cept

ion.

Good u

se of

probl

em s

olvi

ng s

trate

gy.

3 B^

MM

MF

LLLM

Dig

ressio

n. A

12 lin

e di

gressio

n ab

out th

eir last ex

am w

as o

mitted

fro
m th

e an

alys

is. A

ttem

pted

to m

ode

l their so

lutio

n^

afte

r wh

at prof

esso

r di
d in

clas

s.^

4A^

MFF

MMH

Del
iber

ate.
Gr

oup

freq

uent

ly use

s Sk,

Ck,

Sm

. E
piso


des a

re e

vide

nt a
nd o

ften e

nd w

ith Sm

or Ck.

Al

though M

K is

the

most invo

lved

, each stud

ent ad

ds im

portant id

eas.

Th

oughts ar

e co

nnected

. A
ny tw


o-w

ay ep

isod

es tend

to b

e ver

y sho

rt.^

Clai

ms are u

sual

ly s
upport

ed by

grou

nds
and w

arran

ts. T

hey
caref

ully

foll

ow t

he PS

Strat

egy

. Probabl


y th

e "b

est"

grou

p

obs
erve

d.

4 B^

MM

F

LMH

Equ

als. Id

eas are lef

t in iso

latio

n. Few

Sm

, Ck

, Sk

. So


me ch

allen

ges lef

t "U

nan

swe

red.

" T

heir w

ritten

solu

tion

grad

e

was

low

due t

o an

incorrect

free-

body

diag

ram

.^


4 C^

MM

F

LMM

Dys

func

tion

. Lo


ng di

scus

sion

reg

ardi

ng procedu

ral m

atte
rs. Probabl

y th

e "w

orst

" gr

oup obs

erve

d.

4D^

MM

F

LLH

Lack

ability

. No


Sk, Ck

, Sm

. Freq


uen
t us
e of

En w

hen
stu
ck o

n co

nten

t or
pro

ced
ure. Man

y in

terv

entio

ns b

y TA

wh

en^

they

are g

oing

astray

. On


e stu

den

t ha
d m

isse

d clas

s th
e day

bef

ore th

is se

ssion

and of

ten th

ey s

eem

to lack

phy

sics

kno

wle
dge

.^


5A^

MM

F

LMH

Confuse

d. A

W (

Rec

ord
er) ha

d no

t take

n th

e pr

e-re

quis

ite c

ours

e. T

hey
eas

ily con

fuse en

ergy

and v

elocity

; orbital an

d

escap

e ve

locities.

5 B^

MFF

LMM

Verb

ose g

roup

. A


hig

h nu

mbe

r of
Cl statem

ents. P

ersisten

t mi

sco
ncep

tion

abo

ut o

rbital v

elocity

.

5 C^

MM

F

LMM

Clarif

y statem

ents. DC w

as a silen

t pa

rtne

r, of

ten w

ork
ing o

n hi

s ow

n an

d ga

ve little in

put to

the g

rou
p (T

his seem

ed^

very

con

sisten

t with

his
pers

onality

). Hig

h proportion

of C

l^ statem

ents

. Som


e "e

quation

search

ing.

" C

onfu

se th

e Ph

ys.

Des

cr. an

d Pl

an.

6 B^

MFF

MM

M^

Wo
rk &

Co
mpare. Mem

bers

of th

is g
roup f

requ

ently

wo
rked on

their ow

n, com

parin

g res

ults

. Som


e "n

umber

crunc

hing"

and

a fe

w m

isco

nce
ptio

ns. K

F vi

sibl
y tir

ed.^

7 A^

MM

FF

LLLM

Slow

start. T

his g

roup

too

k ab

out 9

0 lin

es to

get to

the p

hysics o

f the p

rob
lem

. T
hey
spen


d a lo

t of
tim

e di
scu
ssin

g th

e

“sur

face f

eatu

res” s

uch
as th

e nu

merical data.
Table 2-9. Sum

ma

ry of

the F

ourteen G

roups.
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