The role of modeling in troubleshooting: an example from electronics

Troubleshooting systems is integral to experimental physics in both research and instructional laboratory settings. The recently adopted AAPT Lab Guidelines identify troubleshooting as an important learning outcome of the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. We investigate students' model-based reasoning on a troubleshooting task using data collected in think-aloud interviews during which pairs of students attempted to diagnose and repair a malfunctioning circuit. Our analysis scheme is informed by the Experimental Modeling Framework, which describes physicists' use of mathematical and conceptual models when reasoning about experimental systems. We show that this framework is a useful lens through which to characterize the troubleshooting process.