Student reasoning in solving non-traditional physics problems

Scientific reasoning is a process of using mental rules, plans and strategies to devise causal explanations about science phenomena based on given information. In education, research on this topic has taken on both the discipline-general and discipline-specific perspectives. Applying both approaches, I conducted large-scale surveys across different grade levels to detect the general development trend of learners' reasoning skills, as well as designed non-traditional physics problems to study the ways that students reason about disciplinary core concepts. In this talk, I introduce two types of non-traditional physics problems, namely synthesis problems and design tasks. The former requires students to synthesize multiple concepts from different textbook chapters to create a meaningful solution. The latter tasks students with a design undertaking, such as producing a rolled-up capacitor. Findings of the work reveal distinctive reasoning patterns of students handling tasks of different characteristics, such as sequential synthesis (involving multiple, chronologically occurring phenomena) and simultaneous synthesis (involving multiple, concurrent phenomena). Results also highlight the impact of student's epistemic views toward physics learning on their reasoning outcomes. I discuss the findings and implications for classroom instruction.