Case of two electrostatics problems: Can providing a diagram adversely impact introductory physics students' problem solving performance?

TL;DR

Providing diagrams to introductory physics students during problem solving can inadvertently hinder performance, especially in problems requiring careful analysis of initial and final conditions, due to reduced conceptual engagement.

Contribution

This study reveals that explicitly providing diagrams may negatively impact students' problem solving by encouraging premature implementation over thorough analysis.

Findings

Students given diagrams performed worse on certain electricity problems.

Students with diagrams spent less time on conceptual analysis.

Providing diagrams can lead to premature jumping to solution steps.

Abstract

Drawing appropriate diagrams is a useful problem solving heuristic that can transform a problem into a representation that is easier to exploit for solving it. One major focus while helping introductory physics students learn effective problem solving is to help them understand that drawing diagrams can facilitate problem solution. We conducted an investigation in which two different interventions were implemented during recitation quizzes in a large enrollment algebra-based introductory physics course. Students were either (i) asked to solve problems in which the diagrams were drawn for them or (ii) explicitly told to draw a diagram. A comparison group was not given any instruction regarding diagrams. We developed rubrics to score the problem solving performance of students in different intervention groups and investigated ten problems. We found that students who were provided diagrams never performed better and actually performed worse than the other students on three problems, one involving standing sound waves in a tube (discussed elsewhere) and two problems in electricity which we focus on here. These two problems were the only problems in electricity that involved considerations of initial and final conditions, which may partly account for why students provided with diagrams performed significantly worse than students who were not provided with diagrams. In order to explore potential reasons for this finding, we conducted interviews with students and found that some students provided with diagrams may have spent less time on the conceptual analysis and planning stage of the problem solving process. In particular, those provided with the diagram were more likely to jump into the implementation stage of problem solving early without fully analyzing and understanding the problem, which can increase the likelihood of mistakes in solutions.