Investigating student ability to apply basic electrostatics concepts to conductors

Hazelton, Ryan L. C.; Stetzer, MacKenzie R.; Heron, Paula R. L.; Shaffer, Peter S.

doi:10.1063/1.4789678

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…It is also consistently reported that many students at the secondary and university levels use electricity in a fragmented way, without linking electrostatics and electrodynamics. Students tend to regard chapters of electrostatics and dc circuits as two separate areas [5][6][7][8][9]. Therefore, clarifying students' understanding of electric circuits is one of the most important topics in physics education research [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ reasoning when tackling electric field and potential in explanation of dc resistive circuits

Leniz

Zuza

Guisasola

2017

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ reasoning when tackling electric field and potential in explanation of dc resistive circuits

Leniz

Zuza

Guisasola

2017

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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“…Typically, a tutorial consists of a pre-test, tutorial lesson, homework assignment and a post-test. There are countless examples of published research that attest to the efficacy of TIP, including recent publications that attest to the efficacy of the approach [10][11][12]. These studies present pre-test & post-test data, which indicate the extent to which conceptual development occurred.…”

Section: Approach To Teaching and Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superposition of vectors and electric fields: a study using structured inquiry tutorial lessons with upper secondary level students

et al. 2020

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Tutorials in introductory physics (TIP) are a well known resource for use in third level insititutions for developing students’ understanding of physics concepts. However, this resource is only sparingly used at second level. This study presents an adaptation of the approach taken in TIP to enhance the understanding of vector addition of a group of upper secondary students. The results present qualitative evidence of the development of the students’ understanding of vector addition. Issues surrounding the application of their understanding to an electrostatics context are also examined. Our results indicate that the approach taken in TIP can improve student learning at second level, and contribute to the small body of literature on this topic.

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“…Many learning challenges related to the concept of electric potential have already been identified in the physics education research literature (for example, see Knight 2002, Planinic 2006, Sayre and Heckler 2009, Coppens et al 2012, Heron and Hazelton 2013, Chen and Gladding 2014. Several physics textbooks also point out the difficulties associated with the concept of electric potential (for example, see Young and Freedman 2004), including the challenge to distinguish it from electric potential energy.…”

Section: Illustrating a Transient Learning Challengementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards addressing transient learning challenges in undergraduate physics: an example from electrostatics

2015

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In this article we characterize transient learning challenges as learning challenges that arise out of teaching situations rather than conflicts with prior knowledge. We propose that these learning challenges can be identified by paying careful attention to the representations that students produce. Once a transient learning challenge has been identified, teachers can create interventions to address it. By illustration, we argue that an appropriate way to design such interventions is to create variation around the disciplinary-relevant aspects associated with the transient learning challenge.

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Investigating student ability to apply basic electrostatics concepts to conductors

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

Students’ reasoning when tackling electric field and potential in explanation of dc resistive circuits

Students’ reasoning when tackling electric field and potential in explanation of dc resistive circuits

Superposition of vectors and electric fields: a study using structured inquiry tutorial lessons with upper secondary level students

Towards addressing transient learning challenges in undergraduate physics: an example from electrostatics

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