Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving

home » Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Detail Page

written by David Rosengrant, Alan Van Heuvelen, and Eugenia Etkina

Being able to represent physics problems and concepts in multiple ways for qualitative reasoning and problem solving is a scientific ability we want our students to develop. These representations can include but are not limited to words, diagrams, equations, graphs, and sketches. Physics education literature indicates that using multiple representations is beneficial for student understanding of physics ideas and for problem solving. To find out why and how students use different representations for problem solving, we conducted a case study of six students during the second semester of a two-semester introductory physics course. These students varied both in their use of representations and in their physics background. This case study helps us understand how students' use or lack of use of representations relates to their ability to solve problems.

Physics Education Research Conference 2005
Part of the PER Conference series
Salt Lake City, Utah: August 10-11, 2005
Volume 818, Pages 49-52

download 106kb .pdf
Published: February 14, 2006

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Behavior - Cognition = Cognition Development - Communication = Representations - Learning Theory = Representations - Problem Solving = Representational Use	- Lower Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Researchers	- application/pdf	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2177020
Access Rights:: Limited free access and
Available by subscription and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2005 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.2177020
NSF Numbers:: 0241078; 0336713
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.40.gb; 01.50.F-
Keywords:: PERC 2005, educational aids, multiple representations, problem solving, qualitative reasoning
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created May 13, 2009 by Jenny Rempel
Record Updated:: May 18, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: February 14, 2006
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=8912">Rosengrant, D, A. Van Heuvelen, and E. Etkina. "Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2005, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 10-11, 2005.</a>

AIP Format

D. Rosengrant, A. Van Heuvelen, and E. Etkina, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2005, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2005, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823).

AJP/PRST-PER

D. Rosengrant, A. Van Heuvelen, and E. Etkina, Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2005, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2005, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823>.

APA Format

Rosengrant, D., Van Heuvelen, A., & Etkina, E. (2005, August 10-11). Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2005, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved December 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823

Chicago Format

Rosengrant, D, A. Van Heuvelen, and E. Etkina. "Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2005, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 10-11, 2005. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823 (accessed 7 December 2024).

MLA Format

Rosengrant, David, Alan Van Heuvelen, and Eugenia Etkina. "Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving." Physics Education Research Conference 2005. Salt Lake City, Utah: 2005. 49-52 Vol. 818 of PER Conference. 7 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "David Rosengrant and Alan Van Heuvelen and Eugenia Etkina", Title = {Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2005}, Pages = {49-52}, Address = {Salt Lake City, Utah}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {818}, Month = {August 10-11}, Year = {2005} }

Refer Export Format

%A David Rosengrant %A Alan Van Heuvelen %A Eugenia Etkina %T Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving %S PER Conference %V 818 %D August 10-11 2005 %P 49-52 %C Salt Lake City, Utah %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2005 %O August 10-11 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Rosengrant, David %A Van Heuvelen, Alan %A Etkina, Eugenia %D August 10-11 2005 %T Case Study: Students' Use of Multiple Representations in Problem Solving %B Physics Education Research Conference 2005 %C Salt Lake City, Utah %V 818 %P 49-52 %S PER Conference %8 August 10-11 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8912&DocID=2823

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.