In traditional teaching, the fundamental concepts of electromagnetic induction are usually quickly analyzed, spending most of the time solving problems in a more or less rote manner. However, physics education research has shown that the fundamental concepts of the electromagnetic induction theory are barely understood by students. This article proposes an interactive teaching sequence introducing the topic of electromagnetic induction. The sequence has been designed based on contributions from physics education research. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between experimental findings (macroscopic level) and theoretical interpretation (microscopic level). An example of the activities that have been designed will also be presented, describing the implementation context and the corresponding findings. Since implementing the sequence, a considerable number of students have a more satisfactory grasp of the electromagnetic induction explicative model. However, difficulties are manifested in aspects that require a multilevel explanation, referring to deep structures where the system description is better defined.
This study examines the causal reasoning that university students use to explain how dc circuits work. We analyze how students use the concepts of electric field and potential difference in their explanatory models of dc circuits, and what kinds of reasoning they use at the macroscopic and microscopic levels in their explanations. This knowledge is essential to help instructors design and implement new teaching approaches that encourage students to articulate the macroscopic and microscopic levels of description. A questionnaire with an emphasis on explanations was used to analyze students' reasoning. In this analysis of students' reasoning in the microscopic and macroscopic modeling processes in a dc circuit, we refer to epistemological studies of scientific explanations. We conclude that the student explanations fall into three main categories of reasoning. The vast majority of students employ an explanatory model based on simple or linear causality and on relational reasoning. Moreover, around a third of students use a relational reasoning that relates two magnitudes current and resistance or conductivity of the material, which is included in a macroscopic explanatory model based on Ohm's law and the conservation of the current. In addition, few students situate the explanations at the microscopic level (charges or electrons) with unidirectional cause-effect reasoning. This study looks at a number of aspects that have been little mentioned in previous research at the university level, about the reasoning types students use when establishing macro-micro relationships and some possible difficulties with complex reasoning.
This study deals with analysing students’ causal reasoning when tackling electric current in transitory situations in introductory physics courses. We emphasise the types of reasoning students use in explanations at macroscopic and microscopic levels, as this knowledge is helpful for designing and implementing novel teaching approaches, which help articulate macroscopic and microscopic levels of description. Two open-ended questions were used to analyse students’ reasoning, with emphasis on explanations. As seen in the obtained results, an important percentage of students are not able to correctly interpret phenomena in simple transitory current states. Their explanations can be categorised into two general categories. The first one is based on relational causal reasoning and the second one is a form of reasoning that excludes current flow in transitory state processes. We look at several aspects that have barely been mentioned in previous research at university level related to the topic of transitory current in circuits, such as possible difficulties with complex reasoning and the type of reasoning students use when they establish macro-micro relationships.
There are many studies on students' understanding of DC circuits in the steady state, but few studies have been made about students' ideas on transient states of movement of charges in a conductor. The traditional Electricity curriculum often involves situations of transient motion of charges such as the process of charging a body (conductor or dielectric), closing or opening the switch in a DC circuit or, circuits charging and discharging capacitors. In this research, we present two questions that have been used to investigate the representations of students about the movement of charges of transients in direct current, which focus on the transition between electrostatics and electrodynamics in first year university undergraduate study. The results obtained show that a significant percentage of students cannot correctly interpret simple transitory state current phenomena. Their explanations fall into two general categories. Firstly, one based on potential difference and secondly, one that excludes current flow in processes of transitory state. Some consequences for teaching are discussed.
Research has shown [1] that understanding the relationship between electrostatics and electrodynamics requires meaningful knowledge about electric concepts. The aim of this investigation is to identify the scope of students' understanding about electric concepts related to the Drude model and the Surface Charge model. In this paper we will describe preliminary results from research at University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and at University of Washington (UW). Some specific examples of the applied questions will be discussed. It will be shown that introductory physics students do not give consistent explanations about the charge movement mechanism on simple DC circuits. The results will be used to develop instructional materials further.
This study examines university students causal reasoning when tackling electric current in transitory situations. A questionnaire with emphasis on explanations was used to analyse students’ reasoning. The results obtained show that a significant percentage of students cannot correctly interpret simple transitory state current phenomena. Their explanations fall into two general categories: one based on potential difference and one that excludes current flow in processes of transitory state. We look at a number of aspects that have been little mentioned in previous research, for example, the reasoning university students use when establishing macro-micro relationships and some difficulties with complex reasoning.
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