What are Context Rich Problems? |
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Context-rich problems are designed to encourage students to use an organized, logical problem-solving strategy instead of their novice, formula-driven, "plug-and-chug" strategy. Specifically, context rich problems are designed to encourage students to (a) consider physics concepts in the context of real objects in the real world; (b) view problem-solving as a series of decisions; and (c) user the fundamental concepts of physics to qualitatively analyze a problem before the mathematical manipulation of formulas.
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Consequently, all context-rich problems have the following characteristics:
- Each problem is a short story in which the major character is the student. That is, each problem statement uses the personal pronoun "you".
- The problem statement includes a plausible motivation or reason for "you" to calculate something.
- The objects in the problems are real (or can be imagined) -- the idealization process ocuurs explicitly.
- No pictures or diagrams are given with the problems. Students must visualize the situation by using their own experiences.
- The problem can not be solved in one step by plugging numbers into a formula.
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These characteristics emphasize the need for students to make decisions by using their physics knowledge. They encourage students to view physics problem-solving as something that they can do successfully and imagine doing in their future careers. They discourage the view that problem solving in physics is a purely mathematical exercise with no real-world applications for the average person.
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In addition, more difficult context-rich problems can have one or more of the following characteristics:
- The unkown variable is not always explicitly specified in the problem statement (e.g., Will this design work? Will you fight the traffic in court?) Students practice reducing the problem to something they can calculate.
- More information maybe be given in the problem statement than is required to solve the problems. (However, this information should be the type of information that would be natural to have in the situation.) Similarly, relevant information, which can be estimated fro the students' base of general knowledge, may be missing from the statement.
- Assumptions may beed to bemade to solve the problem. The students must decide what idealizations make a problem more tractable and if that idealization would make the solution unusable.
- The problem may require the use of more than one fundamental principle for a solution (e.g., Newton's Laws of Motion and the Conservation of Energy).
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These characteristics reinforce problem solving as decision making. That is, they reinforce the need for students to use their conceptual understanding of the fundamental concepts to qualitatively analyze a problem before mathematical equations are introduced.
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Finally, students are occasionally given a problem with a very unfamiliar context (e.g., quarks, quasars, fusion). The purpose of these problems is to reinforce the universal applicability of physics principles.
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Some common contexts include:
- physical work (pushing, pulling, lifting objects vertically, horizontally, or up ramps)
- suspending objects, falling objects
- sports situations (falling, jumping, running, throwing, etc. while diving, bowling, playing golf, tennis, football, baseball, etc.)
- situations involving the motion of bicycles, cars, boats, trucks, planes, etc.
- astronomical situations (motion of satellites, planets)
- heating and cooling of objects (cooking, freezing, burning, etc.)
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