Model-based teaching and learning of kinematics in an introductory physics course for underprepared students

Abstract This study concerns the application of a model-based approach for problem solving and conceptual understanding, in the context of kinematics, relating to the “foundation” component of an introductory physics course designed for students who are academically and scientifically underprepared. A new method for portraying objects in motion, “freeze frame” representation, was introduced. The particular visual conceptual model was employed as a representational bridge for translating physics information between different modes of representations as well as for eliciting qualitative information. The students’ handling of diverse representations, in particular, their use of freeze frame representations, when attempting kinematics tasks, requiring the generation of qualitative or quantitative solutions, was explored. An investigation was also carried out for the categories of cognitive structures generated by students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. An analysis of the data revealed that freeze frame representations support the interpretation and derivation of appropriate qualitative information but play no prominent role as a representational bridge. Moreover, 88% of the sample’s actions, when dealing with the various kinematics tasks, could be captured within four profiles from which it was possible to infer that most of the students’ cognitive constructs were associated with the category of “propositional” mental representations. The consequences of this work, based on the use of the modelling process for the teaching and the learning of physics at an introductory level, are discussed.