Abstract
This case study started with personal observations and experiences. As a lab teaching assistant, I observed on many occasions that students do not like their current homework platforms, often venting to me about their frustrations during lab time. As a student, I shared similar sentiments with them. To develop a possible solution to these observations, a theory of reasoning was chosen as the foundation. The heuristic-analytic theory of reasoning (HATR) suggests that people present an epistemic model (beliefs and ideas about a phenomenon) through a heuristic process (generation from memory) and engage in an analytic process to validate the epistemic model. Research has shown that the HATR can be successfully used to study student reasoning in physics. Additionally, research suggests that an expert problem solver in physics has a robust heuristic process and engages in the analytic process regularly and accurately. In contrast, research suggests that students may not always engage in an analytic process during problem solving. Metacognition has been shown to be beneficial for engaging students in the analytic process, but only consistently in the presence of a teacher. I propose that lecture time should be used to strengthen students’ analytic process and a new form of homework should be implemented to develop students’ heuristic process. The web-based problem solver was created to guide students through one-dimensional physics problems by presenting them with a formal, epistemic model of problem solving steps and validating their understanding of it. Based on student responses to Likert scale questions, a majority of students were able to positively develop their epistemic model of problem solving steps for one-dimensional kinematics problems. Additionally, a majority of students claimed they preferred the web-based problem solver over ones they have used in the past, even claiming they were extremely likely to use the web-based problem solver over generative AI.
Advisor
Thomas Brown
Committee Member
Jorge Mendez
Committee Member
Anilia Dall'Asen
Committee Member
Andrew Roberts
Date of Degree
2026
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Program of Study
Physics Education
Department
Physics and Astronomy
College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Recommended Citation
Thompson, W. W. (2026). Improving the quality of physics practice [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/1597/
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