Analyzing Problem Solving Using Math in Physics: Epistemological Framing via Warrants
Thomas J. Bing, Edward F. Redish

TL;DR
This paper investigates how physics students' perceptions of appropriate mathematical reasoning, called epistemological framing, influence their problem-solving approaches and disagreements, using a warrant classification system to analyze their reasoning.
Contribution
It introduces a system for classifying warrants in physics students' reasoning, providing tangible evidence of their epistemological framing during problem solving.
Findings
Students often get stuck using limited reasoning skills.
Disagreements reveal underlying epistemological frames.
Warrant analysis helps identify students' reasoning approaches.
Abstract
Developing expertise in physics entails learning to use mathematics effectively and efficiently as applied to the context of physical situations. Doing so involves coordinating a variety of concepts and skills including mathematical processing, computation, blending ancillary information with the math, and reading out physical implications from the math and vice versa. From videotaped observations of intermediate level students solving problems in groups, we note that students often "get stuck" using a limited group of skills or reasoning and fail to notice that a different set of tools (which they possess and know how to use effectively) could quickly and easily solve their problem. We refer to a student's perception/judgment of the kind of knowledge that is appropriate to bring to bear in a particular situation as epistemological framing. Although epistemological framing is often…
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