An Overview of Physics Education Research on Problem Solving

Abstract

An overview of the research on solving tasks commonly used as "problems" in introductory physics courses is presented as an introduction to this domain of physics education research.This overview, which is not intended to be exhaustive, describes many aspects of the complex topic of investigating human problem solving to help identify issues of potential interest to researchers and instructors.The article identifies links between research in physics education and more general research on problem solving, and provides useful references.The article ends with a dozen open questions which the author believes deserve answers.