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Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties
written by
Rachel E. Pepper, Stephanie Viola Chasteen, Steven J. Pollock, and Katherine Perkins
We discuss student conceptual difficulties with Gauss's law observed in an upper-division Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) course. Difficulties at this level have been described in previous work; we present further quantitative and qualitative evidence that upper-division students still struggle with Gauss's law. This evidence is drawn from analysis of upper-division E&M conceptual post-tests, traditional exams, and formal student interviews. Examples of student difficulties include difficulty with the inverse nature of the problem, difficulty articulating complete symmetry arguments, and trouble recognizing that in situations without sufficient symmetry it is impossible (rather than "difficult") to calculate the electric field using Gauss's law. One possible explanation for some of these conceptual difficulties is that even students at the upper level may struggle to connect mathematical expressions to physical meanings.
Physics Education Research Conference 2010
Part of the PER Conference series Portland, Oregon: July 21-22, 2010 Volume 1289, Pages 245-248
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Record Link
<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=10464">Pepper, R, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins. "Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010.</a>
AIP Format
R. Pepper, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924).
AJP/PRST-PER
R. Pepper, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins, Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, 2010, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924>.
APA Format
Pepper, R., Chasteen, S., Pollock, S., & Perkins, K. (2010, July 21-22). Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924
Chicago Format
Pepper, R, S. Chasteen, S. Pollock, and K. Perkins. "Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2010, Portland, Oregon, July 21-22, 2010. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924 (accessed 25 March 2025).
MLA Format
Pepper, Rachel, Stephanie Viola Chasteen, Steven Pollock, and Katherine Perkins. "Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties." Physics Education Research Conference 2010. Portland, Oregon: 2010. 245-248 Vol. 1289 of PER Conference. 25 Mar. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{
Author = "Rachel Pepper and Stephanie Viola Chasteen and Steven Pollock and Katherine Perkins",
Title = {Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2010},
Pages = {245-248},
Address = {Portland, Oregon},
Series = {PER Conference},
Volume = {1289},
Month = {July 21-22},
Year = {2010}
}
Refer Export Format
%A Rachel Pepper %A Stephanie Viola Chasteen %A Steven Pollock %A Katherine Perkins %T Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss's Law: Characterizing their difficulties %S PER Conference %V 1289 %D July 21-22 2010 %P 245-248 %C Portland, Oregon %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %O July 21-22 %O application/pdf
EndNote Export Format
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Pepper, Rachel %A Chasteen, Stephanie Viola %A Pollock, Steven %A Perkins, Katherine %D July 21-22 2010 %T Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss's Law: Characterizing their difficulties %B Physics Education Research Conference 2010 %C Portland, Oregon %V 1289 %P 245-248 %S PER Conference %8 July 21-22 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=10464&DocID=1924 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual. The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles. The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References. The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation. The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ. Our best juniors still struggle with Gauss’s Law: Characterizing their difficulties:Know of another related resource? Login to relate this resource to it. |
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