Twelfth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

This paper introduces ill-defined problems in physics as learning activities and as promoters of communication within and between groups in an undergraduate classroom. The methodological intervention consisted of a weekly problem-solving session where groups faced ill-defined problems designed to highlight their conceptual and procedural physics knowledge and students’ creativity. With this, we are challenging traditional practices in physics education like the abuse of well-defined problems, or typical end-of-chapter physical situations, which are designed to illustrate a set of mathematical representations for reaching unique solutions. The nature of these close-ended problems tend to limit students’ problem solving heuristics to a reduced set of physics and mathematical principles, perceived also within reduced contextual elements. Conversely, ill-defined problems or real-world problems demand idea-generation, and creativity, to the extent that subjects must define a set of constraining conditions for transforming the problem into a well-defined situation in order to reach a solution. We expect that this fundamental difference between well and ill-defined problems would lead to higher levels of information flow within and between groups, as evidence of in-class engagement. This study was conducted on a Newtonian Mechanics course for engineering students in a Chilean university during an academic semester. We used social network analysis (SNA) to test our predictions on the change of the advice network (i.e., information seeking) throughout the semester, and discuss the benefits of using SNA for assessment purposes. Results and conclusions will be presented in detail at the conference presentation.