EMBRACING AMBIGUITY

ASKING REAL QUESTIONS

INTRODUCTIONS

Mark
Townsend
UTeach Austin
OnRamps Precalculus
Math

Jess AguilarLandaverde
UTeach Austin
NYOS Charter School
Physics and Engineering

STEM CAREER PROFICIENCIES

LAST YEARS PRESENTATION

INQUIRY
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School
(Bransford JD, Brown AL, Cocking RR, 2000)

Blooms Revised Taxonomy

Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Evaluating

Creating

HOW DOES STEM WORK

PROFESSIONALLY?

Career STEM professionals tend to have certain

proficiencies.

They are able to:

Express themselves clearly, concisely, and technically.
Use technology responsibly and strategically.
Ask and answer questions purposefully.
Utilize the context surrounding a problem.
Collaborate effectively.

In school, were rewarded for having the right answer, not for asking
a good question.
-Richard Saul Wurman, Co-Founder of TED Conference

Have a Method For Approaching a Problem

Celebrate Questions and Answers

Encourage Conjecture Building and Testing

 Why was the question asked?

What attempts have been made at answering
the question?
Why does answering the question matter?
What new information is this question leading
me to?
What are the underlying assumptions involved?

EXAMPLES IN A MATH CLASSROOM

Which is bigger, the set of natural numbers or the set of integers?

What is the sum of the interior angles of a polygon?

If you had infinitely many 1-meter sticks, could you cut a stick to
represent each number from 0 to 1 meters?
What does A*B represent geometrically? A/B?
You have a function that maps set A to set B. Can A be larger than B? B
than A?

INTERIOR ANGLE SUM THEOREM

When do the interior angles of a triangle add up to
180 degrees?

THE IMPORTANCE OF AMBIGUITY

Students should frequently interact with

ambiguous questions. These questions:
Have multiple correct interpretations
Have different answers when different parameters are
considered
Cannot be solved with Wolfram Alpha alone
https://veryserioso.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/chicken.gif

ILL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE

ILL-STRUCTURED PROBLEMS IN SCIENCE

Calls for assessing,

justifying solutions

Fails to present all

problem elements

Vaguely defined
goals; unstated
constraints

ISPs are MESSY!

Uncertainty on which principles are

necessary

Multiple solutions
+ solution paths
Shekoyan & Etkina (2007)

HOW DO OUR STUDENTS PROCESS

THESE PROBLEMS?

Metacognition

Cognition
Read, perceive, attempt to
solve.

Is my work consistent?
Am I using time wisely?
Am I using clear notation?

Epistemic
Cognition
What are the limits?
How certain am I?
How do I know this?

Kitchener (1983)

ACTIVITY: DESIGNING GREEN

Design Challenge: Squeeze, No-Battery Flashlight *
The UTeach Corporation has a new product advertisement:

No batteries or power plug will ever be needed! An environmentalfriendly flashlight, it saves energy without producing pollution to the
environment. As long as you continually squeeze the handle in and
out, the light works!

Organize your group

poster like this!

Your Challenge:
1. Create the best design for a flashlight that matches
the description.
2. Be prepared to explain how your flashlight works.
3. Defend your design against the competition using
scientific concepts.
Brainstorm

Sketch:
What
does it
look like
inside?

Written:
How does
it work?

Defend:
How is
your design
the best?

Time: 8 min
* Adapted from Shekoyan & Etkina (2007)

REFLECTIONS

I.

What are some immediate questions your group

discussed?

II. In which classrooms and/or grade levels might this

question arise?
III. How was this problem ill-structured as defined earlier?
IV. What learning standards or practices might be relevant for
this question?

UNPACKING THE PROBLEM

Ask
What exactly am
I being asked for?
purposefully

Utilize the
context

Is my knowledge of energy
enough to approach this?

Express self
clearly

How can I scientifically defend

this idea? When does it no
longer work?

THE FLEXIBILITY OF ILL-STRUCTURED

PROBLEMS

C
o
m
p
l
e
x
i
t
y

Middle School Science

Potential Deliverables:
Sketch flashlight,
define + defend
"environmentallyfriendly
Flowchart main types
of energy with
research-based
presentation
Detailed description of
product using simple
machines

Environmental Science
Potential Deliverables:
Sketch + list materials.
Which are/not
renewable?
Evaluate green-ness of
existing product:
prepare a collaborative
report (w/ research)
Design (or redesign)
existing product labeling
all energy transfers

Physics
Potential Deliverables:
Labeled, scaled technical
sketch; major energy
transfer diagrams +
equations
Lab: benchmark an
existing product
(brightness, torque, B field)
AP Physics: Measure,
model, and justify
modifications using AP
SCI Practices

Engineering
Potential Deliverables:
Labeled, scaled technical
sketch with all major
functions and parts
Benchmark existing
product, develop
constraints/paramete
rs
Generate redesign
concepts + present
Construct a prototype,
test, evaluate

EXTENSIONS OF ILL-STRUCTURED
PROBLEMS
Ill-Structured

Environment

Disassemble an existing product: how

well does this product meet standards?

System

Which parts are absolutely necessary

for the flashlight to work? Why?
How many ways could we change what
already exists to make the light brighter?

Well-Structured

Is this a product that can be disposed of in

an environmentally friendly way?

Where does all the energy enter and leave?

How can you tell?

How effective is this technology for

large-scale applications?

Describe how the energy flows in your design.

Functions

Parts

DIFFERENTIATION: EXAMPLE
[On-Level Physics]
Are these flashlights efficient? Why/not?
[AP PHY 1] Redesign this flashlight so that a
person with limited dexterity can use it; use
measurements and concepts from rotational
mechanics to justify your design as the best
choice.

PhET Simulation: Faradays Law

[AP PHY C] Alternative energy generation is a

major concern today. Estimate and justify the
efficiency of your design using concepts from this
course.*
[e.g. friction, work, specific heat, torque, impulse,
Faradays law, internal resistance, etc]

ISP
ISP +
Design
Challenge
ISP +
Connection
to Societal
Impact
* cf. EM FRQ 3 (2016)

THANK YOU!

Kitchner, K. S. (1983). Cognition, metacognition, and epistemic cognition.

Human development, 26(4), 222-232.
Shekoyan,V. (2009, January 1). Using Multiple-Possibility Physics Problems
in Introductory Physics
Courses (Ph.D. Dissertation, Rutgers University, 2009). Retrieved
July 14, 2016, from
http://paer.rutgers.edu/ScientificAbilities/Downloads/Papers/Vazgen
ShekoyanDissertation2009.pdf
Shekoyan,V., & Etkina, E. (2007, August 1-2). Introducing Ill-Structured
Problems in Introductory Physics Recitations. Paper
presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2007,
Greensboro, NC. Retrieved July 14, 2016, from
http://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=
9105&DocID=2019

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