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Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force
written by Alejandro Garza and Genaro Zavala
Students may have greater difficulties in understanding electric interactions because they have less day to day experience with them than with mechanics. There may also be differences in understanding of different electric concepts like electric force and field. This study presents the results of students' responses to two sequences of superposition principle isomorphic questions in which the only difference was that in one of the sequences, the electric force was used and in the other, the electric field. We administered one of the sequences to 249 students at a large private Mexican university after covering electrostatics in an Electricity and Magnetism class. The students' answers, reasoning and drawings were analyzed. We found that students who took the force sequence were better able to correctly answer the questions using the superposition principle than those students with the field sequence. The analysis of the students' reasoning and drawings helped us to examine their understanding of electric field and the use of electric field lines.
Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series
Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012
Volume 1513, Pages 142-145
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Applied Research
- Instructional Material Design
= Problem/Question
Education - Basic Research
- Alternative Conceptions
- Problem Solving
= Representational Use
Electricity & Magnetism
- Electric Fields and Potential
= Electric Field
= Electrostatic Force
- Upper Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Formats:
application/pdf
non-digital
Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4789672
Access Rights:
Free access and
Available for purchase
A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2012 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
DOI:
10.1063/1.4789672
PACS:
01.40.Fk
Keyword:
PERC 2012
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created June 21, 2013 by Zachary Davis
Record Updated:
April 11, 2014 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
January 24, 2013
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Record Link
AIP Format
A. Garza and G. Zavala, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328).
AJP/PRST-PER
A. Garza and G. Zavala, Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328>.
APA Format
Garza, A., & Zavala, G. (2012, August 1-2). Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved December 14, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328
Chicago Format
Garza, Alejandro, and Genaro Zavala. "Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328 (accessed 14 December 2024).
MLA Format
Garza, Alejandro, and Genaro Zavala. "Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 142-145 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 14 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Alejandro Garza and Genaro Zavala", Title = {Contrasting students’ understanding of electric field and electric force}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012}, Pages = {142-145}, Address = {Philadelphia, PA}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1513}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2012} }
Refer Export Format

%A Alejandro Garza %A Genaro Zavala %T Contrasting students' understanding of electric field and electric force %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 142-145 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Garza, Alejandro %A Zavala, Genaro %D August 1-2 2012 %T Contrasting students' understanding of electric field and electric force %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 142-145 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12793&DocID=3328


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The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

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