To change how students solve problems requires more than describing problem-solving strategies explicitly to the students. Students need to practice, ideally using complex, open-ended problems that can’t be solved using weaker plug-and-chug strategies. This approach has been developed by the Physics Department of University of Minnesota, where students work on multifaceted problems in highly interactive, small groups with continual guidance and feedback from an instructor. We have adapted and extended this work by developing problems that are scarce in the existing Minnesota database of context-rich problems, namely thermal, electricity, magnetism and optics problems.
here are some photos of students working on these problems
Twice a semester students took a group exam where they were asked to solve one of these complex problems. The solution will be graded according to a problem-solving rubric, note rubric does not require a ‘correct’ final solution, but more a demonstration of strong problem-solving skills.
We tracked whether the students improved in their scores from the first to second exam. Below is the class average for each "process" category in the rubric. Students improved during the semester, though they had most difficulty with reviewing their work and monitoring their progress.
For full deetails see the Miller Report