Using metacognitive prompts to construct and examine student reasoning trajectories

Even after demonstrating their ability to successfully apply the requisite knowledge and skills on one physics question, many students answer an analogous question on the same topic incorrectly, particularly when that question contains salient distracting features. These kinds of reasoning inconsistencies may be explained via dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR), which provide a mechanistic model of human reasoning. Our investigation uses a metacognitive prompt sequence (MPS) to investigate student reasoning on questions that elicit inconsistent student response patterns. The MPS uncovers details of the thinking that takes place before answer selection — thinking that is typically not accessible to instructors or researchers. We have applied the MPS methodology to a variety of introductory physics questions, and have triangulated student question responses with their MPS responses to construct student reasoning trajectories. This approach yields information that cannot typically be ascertained from written explanations or traditional interviews, and direct incorporation of the MPS approach into think-aloud interviews provides particularly rich insights into student thinking. We will discuss recent results and implications for physics education.