Factors Affecting Physicistsï Problem Finding Processes in Ill-structured Problem Situations
Eugene Kang · Jina Kim ∗
Department of Physics Education, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea (Received 6 March 2013 : revised 25 March 2013 : accepted 7 May 2013)
The creative real-world problem-solving ability has been increasingly emphasized in many coun- tries and fields, including science education in South Korea. Real-world problems are ill-structured problems. For the creative products, finding problems are more important than solving them and ill-structured problems are to be found before being solved. Research on criteria for acquiring and selecting information on problem finding processes is necessary for creative real-world problem- solving and creative problem-solving. In this study, we investigated the factors affecting physicists’
problem-finding processes in ill-structured problem situations. Through in-depth interviews with six physicists, factors affecting the selection of information for problem finding were extracted, with the intention to develop criteria for information selection. According to the results of this study, in ill-structured problem situations, physicists consider the problem through a tacit agreement with their fellow physicists. The elements of the tacit agreement between physicists is called PLEMS (phenomenon, logic, existing theory, mathematical representation, simplicity). PLEMS is proposed as one of the criteria for students’ attempting to develop adequate problems and as one of the guidelines for teachers’ evaluating those students.
PACS numbers: 01.40.Fk
Keywords: Ill-structured problem, Problem finding, Physicist, Physicists’ society
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