Anne Thissen-Roe: Facets of student thinking: Are student errors the result of underlying theories?

Abstract

We are interested in the psychological processes involved in learning science and mathematics. Facet Based Instruction is a technique that builds on the idea that students reason schematically, but probably do not have the same schema a scientist would have. There is an implicit assumption that these schemata are used across situations. That assumption is tested in this study. High school students in an introductory physics course were given a series of computerized adaptive tests which asked both conceptual and calculation questions, and then gave targeted feedback based on student responses. Multiple choice answers were categorized according to the schemata (facets) students appeared to have used to produce them. Despite feedback, students were significantly more likely to repeat errors assigned to the same facet than would be expected if errors were spurious. Those inconsistencies across items which are observed may be a result of the feedback.