The Right Tools for the Job: A Look at Cognitive Resources for Learning Physics

The resources model of cognition is a potentially powerful way to conceptualize thinking and learning. For example, it may be helpful for students to use the conceptual resource of "more agent leads to more effect" when trying to understand the relationship between force (agent) and acceleration (effect), yet students often think of velocity as the effect, leading to an incorrect understanding of motion. I will describe the cognitive resource model in the context of learning physics and discuss several different types of cognitive resources, emphasizing conceptual and epistemological resources. Students' epistemological resources - how physics knowledge is obtained by an individual and by the community of physicists - impacts how students study in our courses. I will discuss the instructional implications of this model and how we might help students use their cognitive resources productively to learn physics.