Learning about the Energy of a Hurricane System through an Estimation Epistemic Game

TL;DR

This paper introduces the 'estimation epistemic game,' a framework describing how students solve complex estimation problems by breaking them into smaller parts, exemplified through estimating hurricane energy.

Contribution

The paper presents a new epistemic game model for estimation tasks, applying it to analyze student problem solving in a physics context.

Findings

Students use the game to break problems into smaller parts.

Students justify answers using estimation and reasoning.

The model has implications for teaching estimation skills.

Abstract

As part of a study into students' problem solving behaviors, we asked upper-division physics students to solve estimation problems in clinical interviews. We use the Resources Framework and epistemic games to describe students' problem solving moves. We present a new epistemic game, the "estimation epistemic game". In the estimation epistemic game, students break the larger problem into a series of smaller, tractable problems. Within each sub-problem, they try to remember a method for solving the problem, and use estimation and reasoning abilities to justify their answers. We demonstrate how a single case study student plays the game to estimate the total energy in a hurricane. Finally, we discuss the implications of epistemic game analysis for other estimation problems.