  As part of a study into students' problem solving behaviors, we asked
upper-division physics students to solve estimation problems in clinical
interviews. We use the Resources Framework and epistemic games to describe
students' problem solving moves. We present a new epistemic game, the
"estimation epistemic game". In the estimation epistemic game, students break
the larger problem into a series of smaller, tractable problems. Within each
sub-problem, they try to remember a method for solving the problem, and use
estimation and reasoning abilities to justify their answers. We demonstrate how
a single case study student plays the game to estimate the total energy in a
hurricane. Finally, we discuss the implications of epistemic game analysis for
other estimation problems.
