Rotational kinematics of a rigid body about a fixed axis: development and analysis of an inventory

Abstract

We present the development, administration, and analysis of a focused inventory on the rotational kinematics of a rigid body around a fixed axis. The inventory, which is made up of 13 multiple-choice questions, was developed on the basis of interactions with students and teachers. The systematic and iterative aspects of the construction of the inventory are illustrated. The questions, which were validated, were administered to a set of teachers (N = 25) and two groups of preuniversity students (N = 74 and 905) in India. Students, as well as teachers, exhibited difficulties in applying the operational definition of angular velocity to a rigid body. Many erroneously assumed that an angular acceleration cannot exist without a net torque. Patterns of reasoning resulting in errors were identified and categorized under four broad themes. These include inappropriate extensions of familiar procedural practices, reasoning cued by primitive elements in thought, lack of differentiation between related but distinct concepts, and indiscriminate use of equations. The inventory was also administered to introductory-level students (N = 384) at the University of Washington. Popular distractors to most items were similar to the Indian students.

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“…It is important to tackle these difficulties, especially during the course of pre-service physics teacher education. Seattha, Yuenyong, and Art-in (2015) and Mashood and Singh (2015) suggest the need for innovative teaching and learning approaches. In the context of a developing country such as Zambia, the need for innovation takes more prominence, given the unavailability of apparatus and equipment for standard experiments.…”

“…They experienced problems too with centripetal acceleration . Mashood and Singh (2015) suggested this could be a result of lack of differentiation of related but distinct concepts and equations. Rebello and Rebello (2013) found that students considered angular velocity as being distinct for each particle in a rotating body.…”

“…Students failed to appreciate that the equation was only valid for circular motion with a fixed radius. This, according to Mashood and Singh (2015), could be due to a lack of differentiation of related but distinct concepts. Reif and Allen (1992) also found that students fail to discriminate concepts applicable to linear motion, non-uniform motion, and those applicable to uniform circular and rotational motion.…”

Effects of Context-Based Instructional Approaches on Students’ Problem-Solving Skills in Rotational Motion

“…The effects of these instructional approaches were also investigated with regard to gender. Among the physics topics, rotational motion was selected for the investigation since rotational motion is a difficult and conceptually rich topic that needs further attention from the physics education research community (Mashood & Singh, 2015). According to a study conducted by Duman, Demirci, and Şekercioğlu (2015), students have difficulties and misconceptions about the fundamental concepts of rotational motion, such as rolling, moment of inertia, rotational energy and torque concepts.…”

“…According to a study conducted by Duman, Demirci, and Şekercioğlu (2015), students have difficulties and misconceptions about the fundamental concepts of rotational motion, such as rolling, moment of inertia, rotational energy and torque concepts. In addition to these, physics education research on concepts related to rotational motion is limited (Mashood & Singh, 2015). Therefore, in this study attempts were made to test the following null hypotheses as the research is purely quantitative:…”