written by Vazgen Shekoyan and Eugenia Etkina

Epistemic cognition can occur when a person is solving a problem that does not have one correct answer (a multiple-possibility problem). The solver is engaged in epistemic cognition if she/he examines different possibilities, assumptions, and evaluates the outcomes. Epistemic cognition is an important part of real life problem-solving. Physicists routinely engage in epistemic cognition when they solve problems. But in educational settings, we polish problems and make them single-possibility problems. Thus students rarely get a chance to engage in epistemic cognition while working on problem-solving tasks. We introduced multiple-possibility physics problems in recitation sections of an algebra-based introductory physics course at Rutgers University. We describe here how we have incorporated the cognitive apprenticeship framework in the course and evaluated its effectiveness as a method of enhancing students' epistemic cognition level.

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Published November 11, 2009
Last Modified October 13, 2009

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