Branching Out in Physics Lessons with Decision Trees

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One area where my level 2 NCEA physics students commonly struggle is in the topic of kinematics, in particular, projectile motion. The problem usually comes with them struggling to choose which of the four equations of motion they should use to solve these types of problems.


Recent developments in artificial intelligence, in particular, Chat GPT-4, a powerful natural language processing tool could be used to generate decision trees and flowcharts that can help students solve these types of problems.

A decision tree is a diagram that shows the possible outcomes of a series of choices, while a flowchart is a diagram that shows the steps of a process or algorithm. Both can help students visualize and organize their thinking and guide them to the correct solution.

So, in order to create these decision trees, students had to develop an effective prompt. The model they used was based around the work of Brad Weinstein. He uses the PREP model, where each letter in the acronym represents Prompt, Role, Explicit and Parameters (see below). 



So, using this model their prompt was generated. You are a Level 2 NCEA student studying the level 2 mechanical systems achievement standard. Create a decision tree for the use of the 4 kinematic equations on motion. The decision tree must find each of the unknown variables, if you have the other variables. 

The prompt was then typed into Bing AI chat in the creative mode - which uses Chat GPT - 4. The following result was generated. 



Pretty good, but it does not quite match the equations we use in NCEA Level 2 Physics, so they needed to EDIT the prompt to incorporate the nuances of the NZ curriculum. So, the prompt was adjusted into incorporate this difference by changing the symbols to match.



So now the decision tree matches the curriculum. Finally, they created a flowchart for this decision tree. 


Finally, Chat GPT-4 can provide an example to model how to use the flowchart to solve kinematic problems. 



So, Chat GPT-4 can help create decision trees and flowcharts for Level 2 NCEA physics problems with ease. Students can use this tool to study, practice, or review their physics concepts and skills. 

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