Self-Diagnosis, Scaffolding and Transfer: A Tale of Two Problems

TL;DR

This study investigates how varying levels of scaffolding support in self-diagnosis activities influence students' cognitive engagement and ability to transfer learning in physics problem-solving.

Contribution

It introduces a scaffolded self-diagnosis approach based on the cognitive apprenticeship model to enhance physics learning and error analysis.

Findings

Higher scaffolding improves error diagnosis accuracy

Scaffolding enhances transfer of problem-solving skills

Students show increased cognitive engagement with more support

Abstract

Helping students learn from their own mistakes can help them develop habits of mind while learning physics content. Based upon cognitive apprenticeship model, we asked students to self-diagnose their mistakes and learn from reflecting on their problem solution. Varying levels of scaffolding support were provided to students in different groups to diagnose their errors on two context-rich problems that students originally solved in recitation quizzes. Here, we discuss students' cognitive engagement in the two self-diagnosis activities and transfer tasks with different scaffolds.