  This work examines student meaning-making in undergraduate physics
problem-solving. We use a social semiotic perspective to sketch a theoretical
framework. The social semiotic approach focuses on all types of meaning-making
practices that are accomplished through different semiotic modes that include
visual, verbal (or aural), written and gestural modes and language, text,
algebra, diagrams, sketches, graphs, body movements, signs, and gestures are
examples for semiotic resources. We use the developed theoretical framework to
investigate how semiotic resources might be combined to solve physics problems.
Data for this study are drawn from an upper-division Electromagnetism I course
and a student ("Larry") who is engaged in an individual oral exam. We identify
the semiotic and conceptual resources that Larry uses. We use a resource graph
representation to show Larry's coordination of resources in his problem solving
activity. Larry's case exemplifies coordination between multiple semiotic
resources with different disciplinary affordances to build up compound
representations. Our analysis of this case illustrates a novel way of thinking
about what it means to solve physics problems using semiotic resources.
