Research On The Influence Of The Representational Format Of Physics Problems On High School Students’ Problem Solving

Numerical and symbolic formats of mathematical representation are widely used in physics problems.Mathematical symbol is a major language used to express ideas in physics.The ability of students to construct and interpret symbolic equations is an integral part of their professional skills in physics.This study focuses on the impact of "numerical and symbolic" representational formats on students’ physics problem solving,in order to support students in better learning and solving physics problems in numerical and symbolic representational formats.In this study,a theoretical framework for the impact of representational formats on problem solving was constructed,dividing physics problems into three categories: single equation physics problems,multiple equation physics problems and simultaneous equation physics problems.The problem-solving process was studied from the two steps of "planning solutions" and " implementing solutions".Based on this,a test paper of the "numerical-symbolic" isomorphism problems was compiled.196 senior high school students were tested.The conclusions obtained from the study are as follows:First,"numerical and symbolic" representational formats can affect students’ performance in physics problem solving,as well as their performance in the "planning solutions" and "implementing solutions" problem solving steps.Second,for different types of physics problems: single equation,multiple equation,and simultaneous equation,"numerical and symbolic" representational formats have a different impact on students’ performance in the "planning solutions" and "implementing solutions" problem solving steps.Third,students with different levels of learning ability have significant differences in their performance in numerical and symbolic problems,and their performance in numerical problems is better than that in symbolic problems.However,the higher the level,the smaller the difference in scores between the numerical and symbolic groups.Fourth,for physics problems in symbolic representational format,students have problems with incorrect symbol substitution and unclear symbol meaning,which increase the difference in scores between the symbolic group and the numerical group.Finally,this paper puts forward teaching suggestions to improve students’ performance in symbolic problems: first,help students form a large number of problem schema and use strong methods to solve problems;second,encourage students to assign physics meanings to symbols by using subscripts,and identify known quantities and unknown quantities by drawing underscores or circles.