A Case Study on the Problem Representation of College Science Students in the Lego Building Process

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the problem representation of college science students in the Lego Building Process. The present study selected fourteen college science students as participants. Using the thinking-aloud method and triangulation to collect materials, the study found that the selection tendency of problem representation, ranging from more to less, was action representation, image representation and symbolic representation. That is, there are significant differences in action representation and image representation between participants with Lego building experience and those without Lego building experience. There is no significant difference in the proportion of different problem representations between different types of tasks by gender or experience. Additionally, there is no significant difference in the selection tendency of problem representation between high building-capacity students and low building-capacity students, but there is a significant difference in the transformation rule of problem representation. This study provides some suggestions on teaching practices for college Lego education based on the results.