USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Comparing Experts and Novices in Solving Electrical Circuit Problems with the Help of Eye-tracking.
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
2009
ISSN
1551-7616
Abstract
In order to help introductory physics students understand and learn to solve problems with circuits, we must first understand how they differ from experts. This preliminary study focuses on problem-solving dealing with electrical circuits. We investigate difficulties novices have with circuits and compare their work with those of experts. We incorporate the use of an eye-tracker to investigate any possible differences or similarities on how experts and novices solve electrical circuit problems. Our results show similarities in gaze patterns among all subjects on the components of the circuit. We further found that experts would look back at the circuit while solving the problem but not the novices. We also found differences in how they solve the problems. For example, experts simplified circuits when appropriate as opposed to novices who did not. They also had difficulties identifying when resistors are in parallel or in series and how to combine them.
Language
en_US
Publisher
Physics Education Research Conference
Recommended Citation
Rosengrant, D., Thomson, C., & Mzoughi, T. (2009). Comparing Experts and Novices in Solving Electrical Circuit Problems with the Help of Eye-tracking. 2009 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Citation only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.