  Framing affects how students interpret, approach, and accomplish tasks.
Little is known, however, about how students frame tasks in physics labs.
During the first lab of a sequence designed to teach students about modeling
and critical thinking with data, students test a simple model of a pendulum
that breaks down with improved measurements. Using in-lab video and follow-up
interviews, we identified students' frequent use of a model-verifying frame
that substantially interferes with the instructional goals. We present a case
study analysis of two students who approach the lab with a model-verifying
frame, engage in problematic behaviors including questionable research
practices, but later shift their frames to accommodate goals aligned with
instructional intention. As instructors transition their instructional labs to
open-inquiry experiences, an activity that directly challenges the
model-verifying frame may be productive for shifting students away from this
problematic frame to one that supports their engagement in authentic
experimentation.
