This article deals with the debate about the usefulness of pencil and paper exercises, which are one of the main shortcomings in the contemporary school. That is why it begins by formulating a typical kinematics exercise, in which the student is asked for a simple reasoning of a concrete situation, then it analyzes what would be the possible answers to the stated situation, and then transforms the statement into a research problem adding parameters, variables and modifying the intentionality of the questions, this way a problematic situation arises in which the student will be able to choose the fundamental aspects to solve it, in such a way that it adopts an appropriate attitude before a research process. Finally, a possible solution is proposed according to the scheme used by the student to verify it experimentally.