The role of modeling in troubleshooting: an example from electronics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how students use model-based reasoning during troubleshooting tasks in electronics, highlighting the importance of modeling in diagnosing and repairing circuits in physics labs.

Contribution

It applies the Experimental Modeling Framework to analyze students' troubleshooting processes, demonstrating its usefulness in understanding model-based reasoning in practical tasks.

Findings

Students employ both mathematical and conceptual models during troubleshooting.

The Experimental Modeling Framework effectively characterizes students' reasoning processes.

Model-based reasoning is integral to successful troubleshooting in electronics.

Abstract

Troubleshooting systems is integral to experimental physics in both research and instructional laboratory settings. The recently adopted AAPT Lab Guidelines identify troubleshooting as an important learning outcome of the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. We investigate students' model-based reasoning on a troubleshooting task using data collected in think-aloud interviews during which pairs of students attempted to diagnose and repair a malfunctioning circuit. Our analysis scheme is informed by the Experimental Modeling Framework, which describes physicists' use of mathematical and conceptual models when reasoning about experimental systems. We show that this framework is a useful lens through which to characterize the troubleshooting process.