The role of habits in physics problem solving and posing among Italian high-school teachers: a cognitive and socio-cultural perspective.

This study investigates the relationship between curricular materials and problem solving practices in Italian high-school Physics education. A quantitative taxonomic analysis of 212 problems drawn from Italian high-school textbooks and ISLE-based materials was conducted using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to map the cognitive demand of traditional problems and compare it with that of non-traditional tasks. Results indicate that over half of traditional problems elicit implementation of already known mathematical manipulation, while ISLE-based problems engage higher-order thinking skills more consistent with authentic scientific inquiry. The study then examines how this skewed problem distribution shapes teachers’ problem solving practice. In-service teachers participating in a professional development programme were engaged in a creative activity that invited them to redesign traditional problems into non-traditional ISLE-based ones. Analysis of session transcripts and questionnaires reveals a persistent tendency toward procedural, calculation-driven approaches, as well as scarce flexibility. The detected habits are understood through a bourdieusian lens as manifestations of a field-specific habitus, mediated by textbook culture and reinforced through teaching practice. This work contributes to Physics Education Research by highlighting the mismatch between curricular problem solving and the cognitive characterization of authentic scientific reasoning and by providing empirical grounding to inform curriculum reform, design of educational materials, and teacher professional development.