Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

The problem-solving sub-skills assessed on the CAPS emerged from several sources. First, the developers conducted interviews with experts in several fields, where the experts described how they tackled difficult problems in their fields. Next, an initial list of sub-skills from the expert interviews was shown to instructors, to get their feedback on how the list aligned with the problem-solving sub-skills they felt were important. The developers conducted interviews with students where they observed students solving a specific problem, and recorded the sub-skills that the students used. They also analyzed another group of students’ written responses to the same problem, and compared the sub-skills they observed in their written responses to those that their teacher or employers observed. The problem-solving sub-skills list was also compared to problem-solving skills that one set of students used to solve a mechanics problem, and another set of students used to solve quantum mechanics problems. The developer found that in general, students' problem-solving strengths and weaknesses were similar in different problem contexts.