Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] We review and extend existing frameworks on modeling to develop a new framework that describes model-based reasoning in introductory and upper-division physics laboratories. Constructing and using models are core scien...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2015-09-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020113 |
| _version_ | 1818568083449577472 |
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| author | Benjamin M. Zwickl Dehui Hu Noah Finkelstein H. J. Lewandowski |
| author_facet | Benjamin M. Zwickl Dehui Hu Noah Finkelstein H. J. Lewandowski |
| author_sort | Benjamin M. Zwickl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | [This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] We review and extend existing frameworks on modeling to develop a new framework that describes model-based reasoning in introductory and upper-division physics laboratories. Constructing and using models are core scientific practices that have gained significant attention within K–12 and higher education. Although modeling is a broadly applicable process, within physics education, it has been preferentially applied to the iterative development of broadly applicable principles (e.g., Newton’s laws of motion in introductory mechanics). A significant feature of the new framework is that measurement tools (in addition to the physical system being studied) are subjected to the process of modeling. Think-aloud interviews were used to refine the framework and demonstrate its utility by documenting examples of model-based reasoning in the laboratory. When applied to the think-aloud interviews, the framework captures and differentiates students’ model-based reasoning and helps identify areas of future research. The interviews showed how students productively applied similar facets of modeling to the physical system and measurement tools: construction, prediction, interpretation of data, identification of model limitations, and revision. Finally, we document students’ challenges in explicitly articulating assumptions when constructing models of experimental systems and further challenges in model construction due to students’ insufficient prior conceptual understanding. A modeling perspective reframes many of the seemingly arbitrary technical details of measurement tools and apparatus as an opportunity for authentic and engaging scientific sense making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T06:31:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-747c66ae3b2b4fd8956d9e79df8323e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1554-9178 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T06:31:32Z |
| publishDate | 2015-09-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-747c66ae3b2b4fd8956d9e79df8323e32022-12-21T23:13:30ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research1554-91782015-09-0111202011310.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020113Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial resultsBenjamin M. ZwicklDehui HuNoah FinkelsteinH. J. Lewandowski[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] We review and extend existing frameworks on modeling to develop a new framework that describes model-based reasoning in introductory and upper-division physics laboratories. Constructing and using models are core scientific practices that have gained significant attention within K–12 and higher education. Although modeling is a broadly applicable process, within physics education, it has been preferentially applied to the iterative development of broadly applicable principles (e.g., Newton’s laws of motion in introductory mechanics). A significant feature of the new framework is that measurement tools (in addition to the physical system being studied) are subjected to the process of modeling. Think-aloud interviews were used to refine the framework and demonstrate its utility by documenting examples of model-based reasoning in the laboratory. When applied to the think-aloud interviews, the framework captures and differentiates students’ model-based reasoning and helps identify areas of future research. The interviews showed how students productively applied similar facets of modeling to the physical system and measurement tools: construction, prediction, interpretation of data, identification of model limitations, and revision. Finally, we document students’ challenges in explicitly articulating assumptions when constructing models of experimental systems and further challenges in model construction due to students’ insufficient prior conceptual understanding. A modeling perspective reframes many of the seemingly arbitrary technical details of measurement tools and apparatus as an opportunity for authentic and engaging scientific sense making.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020113 |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin M. Zwickl Dehui Hu Noah Finkelstein H. J. Lewandowski Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research |
| title | Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results |
| title_full | Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results |
| title_fullStr | Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results |
| title_full_unstemmed | Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results |
| title_short | Model-based reasoning in the physics laboratory: Framework and initial results |
| title_sort | model based reasoning in the physics laboratory framework and initial results |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.11.020113 |
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