Knowledge‐in‐action: an example with rigid body motion

Abstract

This paper reports the analysis of the resolution of a paper‐and‐pencil problem, by eight undergraduate students majoring in engineering (six) and physics (two) at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The problem concerns kinetics of a rigid body, and the analysis was done in the light of Johnson‐Laird’s mental models theory and Vergnaud’s conceptual fields theory. The problem‐solving process has been investigated from the presentation of the problems’ variables and the pictures that followed it, up to the resolution itself. This investigation was carried out by analysing the knowledge‐in‐action that students have used as inferred from their written solutions and from what they said in semi‐structured interviews. The findings of this analysis identified some characteristics in their answers that may help us to understand the processes used by students during the problem‐solving task, with possible consequences for classroom procedures used by teachers.