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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Zhongzhou Chen, Neset Dimirci, Youn-Jeng Choi, and David E. Pritchard
Previous research on problem diagrams suggested that including a supportive diagram, one that does not provide necessary problem solving information, may bring little, or even negative, benefit to students' problem solving success. We tested the usefulness of problem diagrams on 12 different physics problems (6A/B experiments) in our massive open online course. By analyzing over 8000 student responses in total, we found that including a problem diagram that contains no significant additional information only slightly improves the first attempt correct rate for the few most spatially complex problems, and has little impact on either the final correct percentage or the time spent on solving the problem. On the other hand, in half of the cases, removing the diagram significantly increased the fraction of students' drawing their own diagrams during problem solving. The increase in drawing behavior is largely independent of students' physics abilities. In summary, our results suggest that for many physics problems, the benefit of a diagram is exceedingly small and may not justify the effort of creating one.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages 010110
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Education Foundations
- Problem Solving
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Free access
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This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
Zhongzhou Chen, Neset Demirci, Youn-Jeng Choi, and David E. Pritchard
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created June 4, 2017 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
June 22, 2017 by Bruce Mason
Last Update
when Cataloged:
February 17, 2017
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AIP Format
Z. Chen, N. Dimirci, Y. Choi, and D. Pritchard, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (1), 010110 (2017), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110).
AJP/PRST-PER
Z. Chen, N. Dimirci, Y. Choi, and D. Pritchard, To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13 (1), 010110 (2017), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110>.
APA Format
Chen, Z., Dimirci, N., Choi, Y., & Pritchard, D. (2017, February 17). To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 13(1), 010110. Retrieved April 30, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110
Chicago Format
Chen, Z, N. Dimirci, Y. Choi, and D. Pritchard. "To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13, no. 1, (February 17, 2017): 010110, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110 (accessed 30 April 2024).
MLA Format
Chen, Zhongzhou, Neset Dimirci, Youn-Jeng Choi, and David E. Pritchard. "To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13.1 (2017): 010110. 30 Apr. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Zhongzhou Chen and Neset Dimirci and Youn-Jeng Choi and David E. Pritchard", Title = {To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {13}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010110}, Month = {February}, Year = {2017} }
Refer Export Format

%A Zhongzhou Chen %A Neset Dimirci %A Youn-Jeng Choi %A David E. Pritchard %T To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 13 %N 1 %D February 17, 2017 %P 010110 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Chen, Zhongzhou %A Dimirci, Neset %A Choi, Youn-Jeng %A Pritchard, David E. %D February 17, 2017 %T To draw or not to draw? Examining the necessity of problem diagrams using massive open online course experiments %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 13 %N 1 %P 010110 %8 February 17, 2017 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010110


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