Gaze Scribing in Physics Problem Solving

Eye-tracking has been widely used for research purposes in fields such as linguistics and marketing. However, there are many possibilities of how eye-trackers could be used in other disciplines like physics. A part of physics education research deals with the differences between novices and experts, specifically how each group solves problems. Though there has been a great deal of research about these differences there has been no research that focuses on noticing exactly where experts and novices look while solving the problems. Thus, to complement the past research, I have created a new technique called gaze scribing. Subjects wear a head mounted eye-tracker while solving electrical circuit problems on a graphics monitor. I monitor both scan patterns of the subjects and combine that with videotapes of their work while solving the problems. This new technique has yielded new information and elaborated on previous studies