Invited Talk: Attending to students’ spontaneous problem-solving approaches as a guide for instructional transformation

Brian Frank, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Middle Tennessee State University, brian.frank@mtsu.edu

Research on problem-solving in physics education has largely focused on identifying general problem-solving strategies and novice-expert comparisons. Consequently, most curricular interventions based on this research have sought to improve students’ proficiency with problem-solving through (i) explicit teaching of expert-like strategies, (ii) and the redesign of problems and group roles to promote the use of these strategies. Less attention has been given to students’ spontaneous problem-solving approaches in specific content areas and to the identification of productive aspects on which to build. In this first part of this talk, we will explore several experimental and observational studies of students’ problem-solving that help to highlight both the promise and limitations of students’ approaches. In this second part of this talk, I will share how this work has shaped an ongoing project to re-imagine physics problem-solving instruction as it has manifested in a multi-year curriculum redevelopment effort at Middle Tennessee State University.