Brief, embedded, spontaneous metacognitive talk indicates thinking like a physicist

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Upper Division Physics Courses.] Instructors and researchers think “thinking like a physicist” is important for students’ professional development. However, precise definitions and observational markers remain elusive. We reinterpret popular beliefs inventories in physics to indicate what physicists think thinking like a physicist entails. Through discourse analysis of upper-division students’ speech in natural settings, we show that students may appropriate or resist these elements. We identify a new element in the physicist speech genre: brief, embedded, spontaneous metacognitive talk (BESM talk). BESM talk communicates students’ in-the-moment enacted expectations about physics as a technical field and a cultural endeavor. Students use BESM talk to position themselves as physicists or nonphysicists. Students also use BESM talk to communicate their expectations in four ways: understanding, confusion, spotting inconsistencies, and generalized expectations.

Figure 1

Left: the initial diagram. A block is attached to two springs and displaced to the left. Each spring has spring constant (stiffness) $k$, and the circular rotating platform spins in the plane of the page at angular speed $\omega$. Right: Zeke’s revised diagram, in which he moves the block to the right of equilibrium.

Figure 2

Zeke’s free-body diagram.

Figure 3

Drag forces on a moving block.

Figure 4

Spring forces on a moving block.

Figure 5

Top: Bill’s diagram that he draws during this segment. Bottom: Our sketch of Bill’s diagram, shown to compensate for the poor picture quality of the original. Bill names the arrows as he draws them (numbers 1–4 on our sketch): velocity, force, velocity, force.