Analysis of Middle School Students' Problem-Solving Process in 'Work and Energy' Lessons

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze middle school students' problem-solving process by dividing students into two groups, good novice problem solvers (group G) and poor novice problem solvers (group P) and comparing and contrasting the two groups according to their problem-solving processes. After investigating whether they had prior knowledge of the lesson titled 'Work and Energy', we selected 12 problems and conducted the main research. The main research was conducted by using the thinking aloud method and was accompanied by post-interviews, In most of the problems, group G showed a high tendency of using the K-D (knowledge-development) strategy, and it used the K-D strategy more in scientific contexts than in everyday contexts. Group P produced lower results in using its prior knowledge because of its lack of procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge. Although this group produced better results when provided with pictures, we could not find a correlation between the success in problem solving and the problem's context. Also, generally, group P used the M-E (means-end) and RA (random) strategies, regardless of the problem's context. In analyzing the problem's context and situation (with or without pictures), each group also differed in the time spent and the ratio of time spent in solving the problem to the total time spent.