Using Categorization of Problems as an Instructional Tool to Help Introductory Students Learn Physics

Abstract

The ability to categorize problems based upon underlying principles, rather than contexts, is considered a hallmark of expertise in physics problem solving. With inspiration from a classic study by Chi, Feltovich, and Glaser, we compared the categorization of 25 introductory mechanics problems based upon similarity of solution by students in large calculus-based introductory courses with physics faculty and Ph.D. students. Here, we summarize the study and suggest that a categorization task, especially when conducted with students working with peers in small groups, can be an effective pedagogical tool to help students in introductory physics courses learn to discern the underlying similarity between problems with diverse contexts but the same underlying physics principles.

6 pages, 1 figure. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1602.07677

References in corpus (3)

• Categorization of Quantum Mechanics Problems by Professors and Students
• Assessing Expertise in Introductory Physics Using Categorization Task
• Categorization of problems to assess and improve proficiency as teachers and learners

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